Gunsan gold rush closes fourth Para series competition

Time was a factor in deciding some medal positions with tight competitions throughout the 17 sport classes in Gunsan. There was a return to the top step of the podium for climbers coming back form injury or coming back to form, with one country taking the lion’s share of the B class medals and one climber topping out the challenging routes.

RP CLASSES

USA’s Melissa Ruiz won her fourth women’s RP1 gold of the season by a plus move ahead of Netherlands’ Eva Mol. Mol qualified higher yesterday but Ruiz’s score of 31+ to the Dutch climbers 31 meant they switched positions in the final. Joining the two on the podium was Spain’s Marta Peche Salinero who reached hold 28+, the same score as USA’s Hannah Zook, but taking the bronze due to countback.

The men’s RP1 was a hard-fought competition with the final order switching around from qualification. Norway’s Kim Rishaug won gold moving up from second in qualification with a hold 41+ climb. Silver was won by France’s Aloïs Pottier who was out of the medal positions after qualification in fourth. Pottier climbed to hold 40 for silver ahead of Germany’s Korbinian Franck who scored 33+ for bronze.

In his third competition of the year, India’s Manikandan Kumar has his gold medal in the men’s RP2. Kumar climbed to hold 32+ beating Austria’s Daniel Wiener in silver on hold 29 and New Zealand’s Kaleb Westlake in bronze on hold 27+.

Talking about his final climb Kumar said: “I did really well. I mostly did what I planned. This atmosphere is amazing. Kudos to the Korean federation for organising such a good event for us.”

Kumar and Weiner shared first place after qualification when the cold played a factor, speaking about that round Kumar said: “It was tricky conditions yesterday, very cold, it was hard conditions yesterday for qualification but today the conditions turned out to be very nice.”

With three finalist’s it was down to which medal colour each climber would receive in the women’s RP2, and it was Austria’s Jasmin Plank who took the brightest colour with a golden 29+ climb. 

After her win Plank said: “Yesterday it was so cold and my spasticity was really high so when I go to the warmup today my body is empty from yesterday, but when I started the route, I thought it looked really cool but really tough. 

“When I fell, I think I had to campus it a bit more, but it was enough. I’d like to climb the route again.”

With the release of the 2027 calendar still fresh in the mind, Plank gave her thoughts: “When I saw the calendar for next year, I was really excited to see new places. I’m happy to be in LA again as that was where I got my first gold medal.”

Italy’s Chiara Cavina won silver reaching hold 16+ and Japan’s Matoi Futahashi won bronze reaching hold 15+.

USA’s Nat Vorel has won three medals from three competition starts in 2026 after taking gold in the women’s RP3. She won gold in Gunsan gold with a hold 46+, just a move ahead of Slovenia’s Pia Purkart who won silver on hold 46. It was Brazilian bronze for Marina Dias who reached hold 40+.

Japan’s Tadashi Takano just missed out on the podium in Laval last time out in fourth but moved up to take gold in Gunsan with a hold 42+ climb. Takano beat teammate Kazuhiko Yamashita who took silver on hold 42, the same score as bronze medallist Camille Caulier, with the Japanese climber taking the higher podium position against the Belgian due to qualification countback.

B CLASSES

It was a double Japan gold in the B1 classes as Sho Aita returned to the top step in the men’s competition and Hiromi Aoki won in the women’s.

Aoki beat Italy’s Nadia Bredice who took silver and Austria’s Lilli Marie Laschitz who took bronze. Aoki climbed to hold 40+, Bredice to hold 37, and Laschitz to hold 33+.

Aita had won gold at every competition he had entered until Laval at the last competition when he was beaten by Spain’s Francisco Javier Aguilar Amoedo, but he returned to winning ways with a hold 48 climb. Aguilar Amoedo climbed to hold 33 for silver this time around and teammate Guillermo Pelegrín Gómez took bronze with hold 30.

Japan carried on the medal tally with three in the men’s B2 class. With three finalists from Japan, it was down to medal colour, and it was Fumiya Hamanoue who won gold. Hamanoue climbed to hold 32+ ahead of Motohiro Ejiri with silver on hold 28+ and Kazuhiro Minowada with bronze on hold 27+.

USA and Great Britain broke the Japanese dominance in the B classes with Hassan Mohammadi winning the men’s B3 and Abigail Robinson winning the women’s B2.

Mohammadi headed a USA one-two when he climbed to hold 26 and teammate Gordon Fralick climbed to hold 25+ for silver. Switzerland’s Sebastian Schmitz took bronze on hold 22+.

With the only top of the finals round, Great Britain’s Robinson was the standout climber taking gold in her class. USA’s Seneida Biendarra took silver behind Robinson on hold 35+ while Germany’s Luisa Grube took bronze on hold 32+.

AL & AU CLASSES

With two competitions for the men’s AU class, it was the USA who celebrated the win in both. Brian Zarzeula won the AU2 and Nathan McKinley won the AU3.

Zarzeula won gold by the tightest of all margins, not by holds, but by time on this occasion. Norway’s Isak Ripman and Zarzeula both reached hold 31+, but the USA climber made it to that point one second quicker than the Norwegian – and this was the difference maker. It meant Ripman had to settle for the silver. Joining the two on the podium was Brazil’s Eduardo Miguel Schaus who took bronze on hold 31 showing just how tight the class was.

McKinley won ahead of Japan’s Nobuhiro Yasuraoka in silver and Switzerland’s Dominic Geisseler in bronze. It was a clearer win for McKinley on hold 36, but silver and bronze shared hold 29+ with countback to qualification coming into play.

In the women’s AU2, France’s Solenne Piret returned from injury with a dominant performance to take gold. As the night started to close in and darkness falling, the climbers looked to have missed a hold down low which took some power out of them for later in the climb. Piret spotted it though, and it showed.

Piret reached hold 49+, just one move away from the top, while USA’s Maureen Beck took silver on hold 29+ and Italy’s Lucia Capovilla took bronze on hold 21+.

Belgium’s Frederik Leys won his first gold since 2023 in the men’s AL2 climbing to hold 40. Leys climb was a few moves ahead of the other podium finishers, silver medallist Ethan Zilz of USA and bronze medallist David Kammerer of Italy. Zilz reached hold 36+ and Kammerer hold 36.

The women’s AL2 was won by China’s Yan Su for her first medal at her first World Climbing Series competition. It was only her second time competing after the World Championships in Seoul last year where she finished 11^th. It was an impressive win on hold 25 as she beat seasoned climbers and medallists Sarah Larcombe of Australia who took silver on hold 24 and France’s Lucie Jarrige who took bronze on hold 22+.  

As is often the case, the World Climbing Para Series Gunsan competition ended with the AL1 class, and it ended once again with an Angelino Zeller gold. With three gold medals from three events, Austrian Zeller added a fourth in four when he reached hold 45+.

The silver and bronze were also separated on time with teammate Markus Pösendorfer and Belgium’s Pavitra Vandenhoven reaching hold 41+. It was an Austrian one-two as Pösendorfer climbed nearly twice as quickly as Vandenhoven to take the silver and leaving the Belgian with the bronze.

After the medals were awarded, it was time for the Para climbers to pack up and get ready to move countries with Fukuoka, Japan set to host the fifth and final stop of the series next week.

Full results from Gunsan can be found here

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