Despite being the first Olympic champion in Climbing, Alberto Ginés López has never won a World Climbing Series, that is until now as he claimed his first Lead win in Chamonix.

When Ginés López finished his final climb, he was sitting on top of the standings, but he had been there many times before and not won. With his 39+ climb the photographers gathered around the Spanish climber in hope this time could be different.

The two climbers that could overtake Ginés López were France’s Sam Avezou who had the advantage of a very supportive home crowd, and Slovenia’s Luka Potocar who had performed the best in the earlier semi-final.

Avezou fell at 34. The photographers gathered even closer. Potocar closed in on Ginés López’s high point but fell on 38+. The photographer’s camera’s flashed as the emotions flowed out from Ginés López.

After his win Ginés López said: “I have been looking forward to this moment for about seven years. I got my first podium in like 2019 and I have been quite close ever since then. I had some hard times after the Olympics in Tokyo [2020], and last season nearly everything was working perfectly but it wasn’t happening, and I was starting to think maybe I’m not meant to win. This feels so good.”

Falling at 38+ did secure Potocar the silver medal ahead of Indonesia’s Putra Tri Ramadani who also reached the same hold, but due to countback had the bronze medal.

South Korea’s Dohyun Lee was fourth on hold 36+ with Japan’s Zento Murashita fifth on hold 35+.

Avezou’s 34 got him sixth position ahead of the two Japanese climbers who also had the same score. Satone Yoshida was seventh and Sorato Anraku was eighth.

Full results can be found here

Annie Sanders took her third World Climbing Series Lead gold of the season with another calm and composed final climb.

Like Ginés López, Sanders was also the sixth climber out in the final round, and reached hold 52+ to set a new high point for Bulgaria’s Aleksandra Totkova and South Korea’s Chaehyun Seo to aim for.

Totkova could only reach hold 48 and Seo made it to hold 47+, that meant Sanders was the gold medallist, Totkova silver and Seo the bronze medal winner.

After her win Sanders said: “It was incredible. The crowd in Chamonix is always so supportive, and I feel like the routes suited me very well, flowy and then crimpy at the top.”

Talking about her plan now Sanders said: “Go home and rest quite a bit and then come back to Europe for Koper.”

There was a moment during the American’s climb where she reached a move that made the climbers turn and face the massive crowd in Chamonix, and she took the opportunity to stick out her tongue to show a cheeky side: “It was kind of in the moment. I spun around and saw the crowd, and it seemed super surreal, and it lightened up the mood a little bit.”

For Totkova, it was her second World Climbing Series level medal, her first also coming in Chamonix when she won bronze in 2021.

Seo’s bronze was thanks to her semi-final performance as countback was a factor in splitting the climbers. Great Britain’s Erin McNeice reached the same hold to finish in fourth overall, and so did Slovenia’s Rosa Rekar who came out first in the final and eventually finished in fifth.

Austria’s Jessica Pilz was sixth on hold 44+, South Korea’s Jain Kim was seventh on hold 42+ and France’s own Manon Hily was eighth in her very last event of her competitive career. The French climber was given flowers on stage in front of the adoring home crowd – a send-off she will never forget.

Full results can be found here

The Lead World Climbing Series takes a small break until September when the competition heads to Koper, Slovenia for the fifth stop in the series.

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