Bertone back on top
France’s Oriane Bertone won the third gold medal of her career after taking her standout semi-final performance all the way through to final boulder
As the only climber to top all four boulders in the women’s semi-final, Bertone came out into the 2026 season’s Boulder finale in confident mood, and that was extended as she was the only climber of the night to top the first boulder.
Bertone was ahead from the outset, but it meant she was being chased by seven other strong finalists that included all three of the women hunting the series title.
One of those was Great Britain’s Erin McNeice, and with two flashes and a flash to zone from the three last boulders, the British climber’s score of 69.7pts was the marker to beat for Bertone.
Bertone was unphased though as she equalled that tally of two flashes and a flash to zone, added to her top of boulder one, and that gave the French climber 84.6pts and a third gold medal at the World Climbing Series level.
Bertone has been close to wins and they have slipped away before, and she was channelling that emotion after her win when she said: “I’m speaking for all the gold medallists, all the medallists, all the finalists, and everyone that has been there this year, no one knows how much of ourselves we put it this. I’m super happy and there’s no words to describe this.”
Asked if she knew she could top boulder four for the win despite the pressure Bertone said: “I don’t know. It’s hard to say. You don’t know if you will top it or not, you just know that you could top it. I read it and I knew it was my style if I climb well. I wanted to do it, and I gave it my all and I’m super proud of myself.”
With Bertone in gold and McNeice silver, they were joined on the podium by Japan’s Mao Nakamura who scored 69.6pts with two tops and two zones. It meant that Nakamura had now one two World Climbing Series medals, both in Salt Lake City, undoubtedly a place the Japanese climber will remember for a long time.
One of the women fighting for the series title was Oce Mackenzie. The Australian finished in fourth with 54.8pts ahead of Japan’s Melody Sekikawa who was fifth with 54.7pts.
Sixth was Israel’s Ayala Kerem with 54.5pts, seventh was USA’s Annie Sanders – the third woman fighting for the overall title – with 54.3pts and eighth was Japan’s Anon Matsufuji with 39.9pts.
WORLD CLIMBING SERIES RANKING PRESENTED BY EUROHOLDS
Erin McNeice started the 2026 series with an 11th place finish in Keqiao, China, but after that a string of one gold and four silvers gave the British climber a tally of 4545pts and the overall Boulder title for the season.
Oce Mackenzie visited the podium three times, once on the top step for the first win of her career, on her way to a points tally of 4080 and second overall ahead of third placed Annie Sanders who also took three trips to the podium – two of those gold. Sanders finished with 3755pts.
RESULTS
Women's Boulder: https://wclmb.hopp.to/slc26wbr
NEXT UP
The World Climbing Series has come to a close for Boulder, but the Lead and Speed disciplines move to Santiago, Chile next week for the final round of the 2026 season.
News and updates about the World Climbing Series Salt Lake City 2026 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, Bilibili, Douyin, Weibo, and Xiaohongshu.
