Annie Sanders of the USA and Agathe Calliet of France topped their respective qualification groups to advance to the women’s Boulder semi-final at the World Climbing Series Innsbruck 2026.

Competing in group B, Sanders was the standout performer of the round, becoming the only athlete across both groups to top all five boulders. The American finished with 124.5 points.

Calliet led group A with 94.9 points. She scored three tops – all secured on her first attempt – and two additional zones, entering her fourth semi-final our of five competitions this year.

AUSTRIAN TEENAGER REACHES FIRST SEMI-FINAL

Home fans had plenty to celebrate as 17-year-old Jakoba Rauter of Austria advanced to her first World Climbing Series semi-final. Starting in only her second competition at this level after placing 43rd in Prague earlier this season, Rauter qualified in 13th place with 79.6 points.

"It was amazing. I knew that I could be in semi-final, that I could climb well," she said. "I just came back from the Europe Youth Championship, which I won, and I was very confident. But still, I felt in my body that I had so many competitions, and I was like 'It's my, favorite competiton because it's my home one.' I was really close to all the boulders actually. And it was enough, I'm so happy to climb in my first semi-final."

"I had so much pressure because I won the first two Europe Youth Series events, then I was very close two years ago at the European Championships, and I was like 'I know I can win, but I have to be really precise'. And I did, I was just free in my head, I'm so happy and proud about that," she added.

"For me, the qualification round was so stressful, because I wanted to do so well. My parents, everyone is here and now I'm in semi-final, I feel like a little girl who is just so happy to climb. Maybe tonight I won't sleep anything, so we'll see!"

FIGHTING THROUGH AN INJURY

Sharing 13th place with Rauter was Luo Zhilu of China, who scored 94.8 points to advance. The two-time World Cup medallist is searching for her best result of the season after placing 22nd in Prague.

“The round was not too hard, but not too easy either,” said Luo. “The first boulder in my group, I really didn’t know how to climb. The second one was kind of hard to solve because of my shoulder injury, and in the last three problems, I think I did my best.”

Luo revealed she has been managing a long-term shoulder injury throughout the season.

“I have broken something in my right shoulder, and it’s never going to repair if I don’t get surgery,” she explained. “So I do a lot of rehabilitation to keep it stable, but I’m kind of worried for the semi-final. I’m constantly thinking about it.”

For the women’s Boulder qualification complete results click here.

NEXT UP

The World Climbing Series Innsburck 2026 continues this afternoon at the Kletterzentrum, with men's Boulder qualification scheduled to start at 15:30.

News and updates about all World Climbing events will be available on the World Climbing website, and on the Federation’s digital channels: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube, and exclusively for the Chinese audience, Douyin, Weibo, and Xiaohongshu.