Koper treated to yet another home nation gold from the climbing queen
Janja Garnbret is a gold medal winning machine, and the machine keeps on rolling in Koper as the double Olympic champion won yet again for the 31st Lead gold of her career, and the 49th in all disciplines.
Tied with Seo Chaehyun in qualification and the semi-final, Garnbret showed her class reaching hold 47+ in the final run, a footslip away from yet another top.
Talking about the latest addition to her golden tally Garnbret said: “I was reminded before the competition that this could be my 31st win, but I honestly wasn’t thinking about it before the final. But now I can think about it and I am really happy about it.
“This year marks the tenth year since I made my debut in Chamonix at a senior World Cup and it’s crazy how far I have come. A 31st win is unbelievable.”
Speaking of the strength of the women's competition Garnbret said: “Every year girls are training hard and trying to catch me and I am trying to stay one or two steps ahead of them, but they are very strong and I can feel it so I need to try hard which is great.”
Seo had to settle for the seventh silver of her Lead career falling on hold 38+, a strong showing ahead of a World Championships in her home nation, South Korea, in a few weeks’ time.
Having won gold and silver before, Laura Rogora now has a full set taking bronze with a climb of 37+. The Italian climber knew she had done well when she screamed at the crowd after being lowered to the floor after her climb.
While Rogora was roaring with happiness, Erin McNeice looked visibly upset and annoyed after falling on hold 33. It meant a fourth-place finish for the British climber.
In fifth was Lucka Rakovec who has impressed after coming back to the World Cup circuit following her time away to recover from Thyroid cancer. She climbed to hold 28+ in the final.
Also on hold 28+ was Belgium’s Heloïse Doumont who scored her PB result in sixth.
Two Slovenian climbers made up the seventh and eighth spots with Rosa Rekar on hold 26+ and Lucija Tarkus on hold 13+. Despite the low fall it was also a PB result for Tarkus.
For the women's Lead complete results click here.
IFSC LEAD WORLD CUP 2025 RANKING presented by EUROHOLDS
Descending from her climb, McNeice looked disappointed, and maybe it was because there was a series title on the line and the Brit must have thought she had lost her chance to win, but she hadn’t.
With 4205.5 pts, McNeice won the series title thanks to two golds and two bronze medals in 2025 to become the first British female to win the Lead title.
Battling all season with McNeice was Seo who eventually finished in second with 4462.5 pts. Two gold and two silver helped her to that tally.
A series of six top ten finishes helped Rogora into third place with 3900 pts, signing off with her bronze in Koper.
The men’s podium had an Olympic feel to it as all three have been on the summer showpiece steps, and once again returned on the IFSC World Cup circuit.
Anraku was the one to excel in the final reaching hold 48+ to take his seventh Lead gold medal and in turn equalling the Japanese record alongside Amma Sachi.
The young Japanese climber has been pushing for medals and pushing for tops every time he takes to the Lead wall, but this time he broke a few hearts by reaching one more hold than Alberto Ginés López and denying him a first World Cup win.
The Spanish climber screamed as he came down from the wall after reaching hold 47+ which was the high point to beat, but with Anraku and current Olympic champion Toby Roberts to come, nothing was set in stone.
Anraku could go higher to take the gold, but Roberts fell one hold short on hold 46+ meaning Ginés López had silver and Roberts the bronze. It was the fourth medal of those colours for each of the climbers.
Just off the podium was Yoshida Satone on hold 45 for fourth place ahead of the comeback climber Jakob Schubert in his first comp of the year – good timing with World Championships just weeks away.
In sixth was a climber in his first final, Indonesia’s Putra Tri Ramadani. He did well to climb to hold 40+ and easily scored a PB result in Koper.
There were two climbers who fell low on the route, and very uncharacteristically low.
Adam Ondra fell on hold 35+ and was visibly annoyed as he was lowered to the ground. Even lower at hold 10+, Suzuki Neo’s right foot popped clean off the wall taking everyone, especially the Japanese climber, by surprise.
For the men's Lead complete results click here.
IFSC LEAD WORLD CUP 2025 RANKING presented by EUROHOLDS
With his silver medal, Ginés López became the third Spanish man to win the IFSC Lead World Cup Series title with a dominant level of consistency finishing on every podium in 2025.
Three second places and three third from the series of six events gave Ginés López a total of 4485 pts.
Anraku’s gold in Koper moved him up to second overall on 4145 pts helped by three gold medals during the year with Chamonix and Wujiang the other top finishes.
Yoshida was in with a shot of the title but a fourth-place finish in Koper meant a third-place finish in the series on 4130 pts. He did get a gold in 2025 when the series visited Bali, Indonesia.
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