Tag: Janja Garnbret

IFSC Koper Lead World Cup Recap: Home Golds, Heartbreak, and Season Crowns

Men’s Recap

Setting the Stage

In Koper’s golden evening, the setters delivered a route as poetic as it was punishing—flowing with rhythm, decision moments, and momentum. It was climbing as cinema, every hold a scene.

Bright Liminals & Early Exits

The climb’s elegance made even a tiny slip feel seismic. Neo Suzuki’s right foot popped early, ending his final at 10+, a gut-punch exit from one of the favorites.
Putra Tri Ramadani quietly became another headline—Indonesia, known for speed climbing dominance, now showing real promise in lead. His first World Cup final was a breakthrough.

Olympic Glory vs World Cup Glory

All eyes were on Alberto Gines Lopez—an Olympic gold medalist yet still chasing his first World Cup win. He climbed to 47, sealing a medal and his best shot yet at that elusive gold. But Toby Roberts followed and fell at 46, cementing Gines Lopez’s silver.

Only One Japanese Climber Could Medal

Satone Yoshida sat nervously on the bubble of the podium with a score of 45, watching as his compatriot Sorato Anraku close the competition. Anraku delivered, reaching 48 to clinch gold—and leave Gines Lopez still chasing his first World Cup victory.

Men’s Podium – Koper Lead World Cup

Rank	Climber	Result
1	Sorato Anraku (JPN)	48+
2	Alberto Gines Lopez (ESP)	47+
3	Toby Roberts (GBR)	46+

Women’s Recap

Slovenia’s Sisters Take the Stage

In the electric atmosphere of Koper, four Slovenian women earned tickets to the final—an emphatic home showcase of depth and talent. Janja Garnbret, in peak form, shared a perfect semi-final climb with South Korea’s Seo Chaehyun, setting up a heavyweight battle in front of Garnbret’s home crowd.

Early Benchmarks

Erin McNeice climbed with a methodical approach, taking her time through the wall. She struggled with the clip before the roof but fought through, becoming the first to touch the headwall. Her climb ended just after, and though she held the high mark through four climbers, her disappointment was plain.

Laura Rogora, often tested by the big dynamic moves, managed to find a more static solution through the dyno. True to form, she flirted with the clock, still in the roof with 30 seconds left. She reached the headwall and guaranteed herself a medal, falling with just a handful of seconds to spare.

The Queen of Koper

Janja Garnbret is only competing in three World Cups this season, and hearing the roar when she stepped to the wall made it obvious why Koper was one of them. She reached the headwall with more than two minutes still on the clock, the crowd growing louder with each move. The finish required a taxing traverse rightward before a dyno to the last hold. Her right foot slipped on the leap, leaving her one hold shy of the top—but the ovation thundered anyway.

The Decider

Seo Chaehyun climbed with McNeice sitting on the bubble at 33. She steadied herself after a wobble around 24 and pressed higher. Once she touched the headwall the podium was set, bumping McNeice out. Seo fell at 38, edging past Rogora’s 37+ to lock in silver and confirm Garnbret as Koper’s champion.

Women’s Podium – Koper Lead World Cup

Rank	Climber	Result
1	Janja Garnbret (SLO)	47+
2	Seo Chaehyun (KOR)	38+
3	Laura Rogora (ITA)	37+

Weekend in Climbing: IFSC World Cup in Wujiang and NACS in Virginia

It was a busy weekend in the climbing world as the final IFSC World Cup and the final North American Cup Series events of 2023 both took place. Now, this doesn’t mean we have to wait until next year for some elite climbing, as there are many regional tournaments coming up with a bunch of Olympic spots up for grabs.

One athlete who has yet to secure an Olympic invite but is fully expected to qualify is the 16-year-old phenom from Japan, Sorato Anraku. Anraku dominated yet again as he reached hold 39, while second place, Shion Omata, reached jsut 30+. Anraku ended the season with 4300 points, running away with the season title with second place scoring just 2650 points. A third Japanese climber, Taisei Homma, finished third, giving Japan a podium lockout in China.

The season title was still up in the air coming into the weekend, with Janja Garnbret did not make the trip Jessica Pilz had a chance to secure the title if she were to finish on the podium. She placed fourth in the semi-finals, while Janja’s Slovenian teammate Mia Krampl surprisingly failed to get out of. Both Ai Mori and Natsuki Tanii managed to reach the top during the semi-finals, while Jain Kim matched Pilz with 34 holds.

The women’s final proved to be incredibly difficult, as the high score when Pilz stepped to the wall was just 22+ holds. She blew that number out of the water, reaching hold 31+. Kim wound up falling after hold 20+ giving Pilz the season title. Tanii made it to hold 26+ to secure third and Mori finished her season on top of the podium with 36+.

The speed races featured one shocking result, as world record holder Aleksandra Miroslaw fell in the quarterfinal and placed just fifth. Her national teammate Natalia Kalucka came up just short in the final as Lijuan Deng managed to win the final in front her home fans.

In the men’s speed final featured to Chinese climbers matched up against one another, with Peng Wu getting the win against Jingjie Huang.

Locally, the Elite National Sportrock Climbing Centers in Alexandra, Virginia hosted the final NACS event of the year. Micaela Patajo won the women’s speed competition, while Kaden Kang won the men’s competition. In lead, three men reached the top in the final, with Victor Baudrand reaching to top quickest and taking home victory. On the women’s side it was domination by Julia Duffy. While she only won the final by a single hold, she did finish first in qualification, the semi-finals, and the finals, sweeping the weekend.

2023 IFSC Climbing World Cup: Koper, Slovenia

Yes, it is a bit late to be joining into the 2023 Climbing World Cup season, especially given this was the second to last event of the season and many of the top climbers won’t be participating in China. That said, it is a sport that I have recently begun participating in and very much following, so let’s get some extra publicity to the sport of climbing.

The women’s lead title was crowned in the nightcap, which was fitting as Slovenia had three native climbers in the eight-woman final. It was heartbreak for Mia Krampl as her foot slipped after hold 11 going a dyno into the next section and leaving a clear black rubber streak on the foothold serving as a warning to all the climbers who came after her.

Another Slovenian climber, Vita Lukan, managed to bring home the bronze medal in a riveting climb. She lost her chalk bag in an incredibly technical section that saw all but one climber, Mori Ai (more on her in a moment), end up with their backs facing the wall and spinning around their rope to solve the most notable crux in the route. As she spun, the clip for her chalk bag came undone and snag on one of her harness loops. She reached back to get a handful of chalk but instead set the bag free to fall to the ground. Somehow unphased, Lukan continued climbing to the 40+ hold mark, which was just enough to earn a spot on the podium.

Ai put together an impressive climb, especially given the setup did favor the taller climbers, and she was the shortest in the final. As mentioned before, she was the only one not to go for the reverse hold and spin in the middle of the wall, instead putting in an impressive heel hold to get through the crux and ending up nearly reaching the top, before falling at 44+.

The final climber of the day was climbing superstar Janja Garnbret, and she put on a show for her home crowd. The fans were incredibly loud for her entire climb, regularly chanting “Janja” and “Slovenia” as she made the problem that stumped every climber before her look almost simple. She breezed her way to the top to claim gold.

On the men’s side, there was again only one climber to top the route, and he was also the last competitor to go. Anraku Sorato of Japan showed why he is a future star in the sport as he absolutely dominated the wall and made it look even easier than Janja did the women’s route. American Jesse Grupper found himself burning too much time at one of the most unique features you will see on a lead route. The right-handed swinging move that leads to a slight down jump before a full dyno with an underhand hold would be intimidating on a bouldering wall, it in the middle of a lead route is borderline crazy. Despite the uniqueness of the feature, every single climber did successfully solve it.

Grupper though did spend a lot of time in that section which led to him seeming to rush at the end as he found himself with a handful of maneuvers to complete with only 20 seconds left and fell on hold 42+. It really was a two man show as the bronze medal went to Olympic champion Alberto Gines Lopez, who only made it to hold 23.