The IFSC Climbing World Cup in Innsbruck, Austria, hosted competitors from around the world at this year's sixth Boulder and third Lead World Cup competitions. Here’s what some of the top-performing athletes had to say following each round.

LEAD FINALS

Janja Garnbret of Slovenia – 41 in the women's event, first and gold medal winner:

“I’m really tired, after three days of climbing. It was exhausting, but at the same time I’m so happy I climbed like I wanted to. The route was so fun, so nice, there was a little bit of hesitation on the swing, but I think it was because I didn’t know if I could reach or not. I know the crowd was worried a little bit, I was not.

"I love Innsbruck, that’s why I chose this competition for my return after the Olympic year, the crowd is fantastic, they give you fuel, they give you energy to climb, I just love it. And I hope Innsbruck loves me too.”

Suzuki Neo of Japan – top in the men's event, first and gold medal winner:

“I’m very happy with my first gold medal. I believe the route was a bit easy, but I found it difficult in the middle section, that's when I felt tired. Innsbruck is an awesome venue, there were so many people supporting me. My season is going very well, I would like to win the overall title.”

LEAD SEMI-FINALS

Heloïse Doumont of Belgium – 37+ in the women's event, seventh:

“It's crazy to make my first final, and t**o make in Innsbruck, with a lot of strong climbers in the competition, I can't believe it. I didn't think I was in first place when I fell, but my coach yelled at me: 'Hello! You're first!', and I thought: "Okaaay! Maybe I will go to the final'

"I trained very hard, I trained every day of the year to be able to give my best, and now it's paying off."

Jesse Grupper of th USA – 50+ in the men's event, third:

“It was a lot of fun, the energy from the crowd was crazy! I feel like I climbed well in a lot of sequences and it was fun to use my entire six minutes. There was a really cool sequence where the rest forced me to face the crowd, and I think sometimes Climbing is ridiculous, the positions that you're in, the interaction with the crowd, I was in my happy place for a moment.

"Final routes in Innsbruck are notoriously pretty hard, but I improved in my rock Climbing over the past couple of years, and i'm excited for the fight!"

LEAD QUALIFICATIONS

Max Bertone of France – 34+ and 40+ in the men's event, 15th:

“Qualification was very good, I felt very well on the routes, I think I'm starting to find my flow. I still don't think I gave my best, I always fall because of some wrong beta or wrong expectations on how the holds will be.

"I'm still looking for my perfect climb, but it's getting better. I'm just a bit sad that my semi-final will be just before the cleaning.

"I'm training a lot on on-sight routes, where I can manage to find different techniques on competition routes, but we all know that competition routes are way different than training ones, so you never know what holds will be on the wall, you try to find some references, but I don't think it will ever be possible to know every hold on a single route."

Lucka Rakovec of Slovenia – 40+ and 44+ in the women's event, second:

“It's amazing. It's been a long time since I've been competing, it's special, but I was extremely nervous! I don't think I have ever been this nervous before a competition. I'm not good anymore at dealing with stress. After the first route I felt way better, I guess I just needed to break the ice.

"The competition circuit hasn't changed. I missed the people, I missed the experience, the atmosphere, everything."

WOMEN'S BOULDER FINAL

Janja Garnbret of Slovenia – 99.3 points, first and gold medal winner:

“It feels amazing. I didn’t know how I would feel coming back, but this amazing Innsbruck crowd welcomed me back. I really enjoyed myself on the wall, had a bit of a shaky start in qualification, then it felt 100% better in semi-final, and now I felt like my old self in final. I really enjoyed being back.

“You never forget how to compete, but being back after nine months, in the middle of the season, was not the easiest thing. I had a lot of doubts: ‘Am I ready? Am I not? Am I even motivated?’ But I’m so glad I came back, I enjoyed it so much.

“I’ve been training and I’ve been rock climbing a lot, it was something for my heart, for my soul. I spent a lot of time outside, I trained in the gym as well, but mostly I was taking time off and enjoying other things besides competition and training.”

WOMEN'S BOULDER SEMI-FINAL

Annie Sanders of the USA – 84.5 points, first:

"The semi-final was super fun. I really had a lot of fun out there on the mats. I feel like the boulders really suited my style, and I'm glad that I executed as well as I did.

I feel confident more and more, as the seasons and years go by, but especially after the second boulder I was feeling pretty confident because I knew a couple of the other girls before me hadn't topped it, so it was a good feeling to top that one.

"Boulder three definitely did not suit my style. I thought maybe I could stop on the first hold, that's why I was trying the toe hook, but it never,worked out. I like the variety. I like challenging myself on those type of boulders. I mean, I have to learn to do them someday, so..."

Giorgia Tesio of Italy – 68.4 points, third:

"I felt great, I had a lot of fun. It was one of my best competitions of the year for sure. I gave my all, boulders were fun, they were hard, so I'm really happy with how I climbed and I enjoyed it."

MEN'S BOULDER FINAL

Toby Roberts of Great Britain – 69.8 points, first and gold medal winner:

“This season has been quite hard, but going into this event I wanted to give everything, and to be honest I’m a little bit starstruck. I’m just so happy.

“I definitely struggled a bit post-Olympics, and when I started the season it hit me and I started to feel quite bad. I just wanted to go out there and climb the way I know I can. This competition has been incredible, I enjoyed every moment and to get away with a gold medal doesn’t even feel real.

“I’m pretty happy with the rest day, my skin is pretty thin, but I’m on an absolute high right now and I’m going to ride that through, it’s what I needed to gain a little bit of confidence.”

MEN'S BOULDER SEMI-FINAL

Maximillian Milne of Great Britain – 44.9 points, sixth:

"I love to be in final here, it's an amazing venue, and amazing crowd.

"This year I decided to step back a little bit, really focusing on the World Championships and training. I skipped half of the World Cup season to dive head down into training, I went to Salt Lake City and Prague strong and fit, I made semi-final but didn't quite piece it together on those boulders.

"I had a bit of pressure coming here, because I know my shape is good, best it's ever been, but that doesn't make you advance to the next round, there are so many other little things that can make a big difference."

Hannes Van Duysen of Belgium – 39.8 points, seventh:

"The semi-final was very hard, especially because of the hot weather. I felt like in every boulder I was losing so much energy, and in the end I felt empty and couldn't really give more.

"It's already the second time this year that I have to wait until the end, I hope I don't have to get used to it, it's horrible. You never want to watch somebody climb and hope that they fall, but at same time hoping you make final. I prefer to top some boulders and make final.

"Tonight it will be my third final of the season, the first two were okay, I missed the podium on some details. I hope I will be able to put everything together, climb on a high level and hopefully get a medal."

WOMEN'S BOULDER QUALIFICATION

Janja Garnbret of Slovenia – 109.6 points in the wo, fifth:

“It feels good to be back. Honestly, I wasn’t as nervous as I expected, but you can’t help it… coming back for the last Boulder World Cup after nine months is not so easy, and I did feel a bit rusty on the first boulder, but after the second one I felt like the normal Janja again. It’s nice to break the ice, now I’m looking forward to the real thing on Friday.

“I’m not proud to have changed my shoes in between attempts, because I’m a firm believer that you should not do that, but I did it and I feel ashamed… just a little bit!

“My skin felt very weird, I was kind of slipping, which never happened before. All in all, I felt good, felt ready, and everything is where it should be.”

MEN'S BOULDER QUALIFICATION

Pan Yufei of China – 99.2 points, third:

“Qualification was okay, even though I couldn’t find the beta for the last boulder, but the problems were fun.

“For a few days after Bern I felt a bit of pressure, but there is no way for me to think like that and put too much pressure on this competition. I hope I can learn more from each round and each boulder. I forget what I got in Bern and start from zero, I feel relaxed.”

Luca Boldrini of Italy – 84.5 points, 19th:

“I had no expectations, being my first-ever World Cup. I tried to have fun, and I had a lot of fun, the result is just a consequence. I’m very happy with it!

“I expect semi-final boulders to be much harder, and I will be a lot more tired. I will have to put all my effort, and it can still be a good round for me.”

PRE-EVENT

Colin Duffy of the USA:

“Innsbruck is one of my favourite venues. I did my first Youth World Championship here in 2017 and that comp was very memorable for me. I have a lot of great experiences here.

“I’m feeling good about this competition. I’m coming off a nice result in Bern and I’m ready to close out the Boulder season and see how my Lead shape is.

“My training hasn’t been as perfect as I would like but I’ve had some good training this week between competitions and I’m excited to test myself.

“It’s hard to choose. Lead climbing in competition is much more stressful for me but at the same time I have had more success over the years in that discipline. I think I just like the different challenges of each of them equally. It’s a different experience competing in both I think.”