Men's Olympic medallists also showing strong climbing in Koper
The Slovenian women put on a show for the home crowd in Koper at the final IFSC Lead World Cup of the 2025 series with four making it through to tomorrow night’s final.
Somewhat unsurprisingly Janja Garnbret is one of those four and is once again in joint first position with South Korea’s Seo Chaehyun who has her sights set on the series title.
Both Garnbret and Seo climbed to hold 48, and with both making two tops in qualification they cannot be split at present.
Despite being first in qualification and semi-final, Seo is still keeping her emotions in check after a few unsatisfactory results in Slovenia: “I don’t usually climb so well in Koper because I’m not adapted to the humidity, but this time I climbed so well and smoothly so I hope for the best in the final.”
With a series win tantalisingly close, yet again Seo is keeping her emotions in: “I try not to think about the series win and just focus on my climbing here. I just want to do my best climb in the final.”
On hold 47, Italy’s Laura Rogora is the climber in third, one place above Rosa Rekar in fourth. Slovenian Rekar was the biggest mover up from her qualification result going from 23rd and one of the first semi-final climbers out to a final spot on hold 44+.
Garnbret and Rekar will be joined by Lucka Rakovec and Lucija Tarkus in the final after both made it to hold 39+ along with Belgium’s Heloïse Doumont.
It meant Rakovec was sixth, Tarkus was seventh and Doumont eighth.
The other finalist is Seo’s biggest rival for the series title, Great Britain’s Erin McNeice. McNeice made it to hold 40+ and fifth position.
For the women's Lead complete results click here.
It’s the usual suspects at the top of semi-final in the men’s competition as friends and rivals Anraku Sorato and Toby Roberts sit in first and second. The Japanese climber hit hold 41+ for top spot and the Brit as on hold 40+.
The two climbers going for the series title both made the final with Spain’s Alberto Ginés López in third on hold 40+ and Japan’s Yoshida Satone through in seventh on hold 38.
After his semi-final climb Ginés López said: “I think in the semi-final I performed much better than in qualis where I struggled with the route quite a lot. I was quite nervous but I’m happy now.”
Looking ahead to the final the Spaniard said: “Tomorrow is one of the most important days of the season. I’m fighting with Satone for the first position [in the series] so tomorrow will be super important in the final. I’ll rest a little in the morning and read to get prepared.”
Indonesia’s Putra Tri Ramadani will contest his first World Cup final after climbing to hold 40 for fourth spot ahead of Austria’s Jakob Schubert who was fifth on hold 39.
While Slovenia have the odds in their favour in the women’s final, again, another unsurprising statement, is that Team Japan have the odds in the men’s with three of the eight finalists from the nation.
Joining Anraku and Yoshida is Suzuki Neo who moves through the semi in sixth position after reaching hold 38+.
Last but by no means least, Czechia’s Adam Ondra will contest the final from eighth spot after reaching hold 37.
For the men's Lead complete results click here.
News and updates about the event will be available on the IFSC website and on the Federation’s digital channels: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube, and exclusively for the Chinese audience, Bilibili, Douyin, Weibo, and Xiaohongshu.
