The IFSC attached a slogan to the livestreams of this weekend’s World Cup in Innsbruck, Austria: When one door closes, another door opens. That was a fitting descriptor, as the event featured the last boulder World Cup of the 2023 season and the first lead World Cup of the 2023 season—and many competitors chose to take part in both disciplines.

But that slogan took on added meaning in matters of injury recovery, the 2024 Olympic push, and the ever-growing popularity of comp climbing. Indeed, it feels as if many doors are opening all at once for athletes and fans, and that made for some pretty dramatic proceedings in Innsbruck. Here’s what happened…

Garnbret’s Festival of Flashes

In many ways, the women’s boulder discipline felt like a spectacle that was many months—perhaps even years—in the making. While various athletes (including Team USA’s Brooke Raboutou and Natalia Grossman, Japan’s Miho Nonaka, and Slovenia’s Janja Garnbret) had delivered memorable moments previously this season, intermittent absences at events meant that fans had yet to see all those superstars battling in the same event. Sure, France’s Oriane Bertone—winner of a World Cup earlier this year in Prague—was still absent in Innsbruck, but the presence of Garnbret, Raboutou, Grossman, Nonaka, and others was enough to make the field feel truly special. 

Of that bunch, Garnbret had the best qualification round, flashing all but the last boulder. But Grossman and Raboutou were never far from Garnbret’s superior score, and each cruised into the semi-finals in good standing. Although Garnbret continued her remarkable performance through the semi-finals’ boulders with a series of tops, struggles with footwork on a slab allowed other women to make big statements. Raboutou, for example, stayed focused through eight nimble attempts on that slab before finally securing its mono top—and with it, the lead. Grossman topped the slab as well, as did Japan’s Futaba Ito and Ai Mori. 

It all amounted to the creation of arguably the most stacked finals’ field in recent memory: Garnbret, Grossman, Raboutou, Ito, Mori, and Nonaka. And as a testament to the supreme talent in the field, the first two boulders in the finals did little to create much separation—a vast majority of the women topped the boulders, many with flashes. But everything changed with the third boulder, which featured a crux jump to a protruding volume. Grossman provided the initial fireworks, motoring past the crux and latching the top hold as the clock ticked down. But euphoria quickly turned to heartbreak when it was determined that Grossman had not matched the top hold prior to the buzzer. (“I allowed myself 20 seconds to be frustrated, and then I moved on,” Grossman later revealed about the ruling.)

Garnbret, never one to be outdone in dynamic movement, climbed next. She jumped, paddled through the crux volume, and advanced all the way to the zone with her momentum. The incredible display of coordination was prologue to a quick flash of the boulder, giving Garnbret the lead.

Garnbret’s supremacy came into focus even more on the final boulder, a progression of crimps with a dynamic toe-catch crux. All finalists gave the boulder multiple attempts. Grossman even secured the cruxy toe-catch, but she could not reach the top. Yet, Garnbret cruised through the boulders’ swinging lower moves, then glided through the crimps and latched the toe-catch, and quickly reached the top in a fluid sequence—her fourth flash of the round to win the gold medal with aplomb. Grossman was awarded the silver medal, and Nonaka—anchored by flashes on the round’s first two boulders—beat Raboutou for the bronze.  

Japan’s Surplus of Crushers

Some of Garnbret’s Slovenian teammates stood out early in the men’s boulder division. In particular, Zan Lovenjak Sudar and Martin Bergant secured tops in a highly competitive qualification round. But a host of athletes from Team Japan, led by Ritsu Kayotani, Meichi Narasaki, and Sorato Anraku, eventually fought their way to the top of the pack. 

Meichi Narasaki continued to stay high on the scorecards in the semi-finals, largely to a flash of the round’s second boulder, a veritable crimp haul. His compatriot, Anraku, flashed the boulder too, but struggled mightily on the fourth boulder—a slabby walk atop slim dishes. Belgium’s Simon Lorenzi, on the other hand, topped all the semi-final boulders and suddenly became the clear favorite to win the entire competition. 

But the final round provided an unexpected narrative: Lorenzi, after looking so supreme in semi-finals, was immediately shut down on the opening overhead press move of the finals’ first boulder; in fact, Lorenzi was the only competitor to not top that boulder, whereas Anraku, Narasaki, and South Korea’s Jongwon Chon vaulted ahead on the scores with flashes. Anraku then pulled away from the rest of the men by becoming the only athlete to power through the second boulder’s slopey pockets and secure a top. Anraku had a chance to secure the gold medal with a top on the third boulder, but he stumbled on the slab—meaning the standings were to be determined on the fourth boulder. 

Despite the high stakes, Anraku exploded through fourth boulder’s coordination sequences, perfectly executed the paddle-dyno crux, and secured a top on his seventh attempt; the dramatic finish earned 16-year-old Anraku his first-ever gold medal. Meichi Narasaki, who was leading the field in the early part of the round, sank to second place and received the silver medal; France’s Sam Avezou, formerly a decorated youth competitor who finally seems to be finding his flow on the adult circuit at age 22, outclimbed Jongwon Chon for the bronze medal. 

Bottlenecks Aplenty

Janja Garnbret had approximately one day of rest before the start of the lead discipline, but the lack of recovery time did not stop her from claiming the highest ranking in the women’s qualification round. Garnbret was the only competitor to top the first qualification route, although South Korea’s Chaehyun Seo, Japan’s Ai Mori, and Austria’s Jessica Pilz performed well on both qualification routes and never allowed Garnbret to become a runaway favorite. 

But Seo and Mori surpassed Garnbret in the successive semi-final round by grinding to the headwall and falling on a crimp just three moves shy from the top. (Garnbret actually matched the highpoint set by Seo and Mori, but it was determined that Garnbret had timed out.) Garnbret’s score of 46 was ever-so-slightly lower than the tied scores of 46+ for Seo and Mori.

This heightened the tension for the final round. Garnbret was aiming for a lead gold medal to go with her boulder gold medal, but she faced a daunting contingent of other finalists—half of whom had also taken part in the recent boulder final. Of the elite bunch, Team USA’s Brooke Raboutou delighted the crowd early by cutting loose on a sequence of red pinches, but she never lost her composure and soon journeyed through a series of dimpled spheres. She then progressed into a section of smooth rails and fell only when the wall angle steepened and forced a big left-handed launch to a ledge (for a final score of 25+). Other competitors, including Team USA’s Natalia Grossman, Slovenia’s Mia Krampl, and Austria’s Pilz, fell at the same ledge, accentuating the difficulty of the move. Only Garnbret was able to statically work through the ledge crux and continue into a higher section of smooth, blue pockets to establish a significantly superior high point (of 39+). 

Mori, climbing after Garnbret, was able to stick the crux ledge as well, but soon fell trying to come out of a snug heel-hook position, still several moves lower than Garnbret’s high point. As a result, Garnbret was awarded the lead gold medal (yes, to go along with her boulder gold medal), while Ai Mori earned the silver and Jessica Pilz—one of the many finalists bottlenecked at the ledge—earned the bronze medal based on countback. 

The men’s lead discipline also featured a number of standouts from the previous day’s bouldering portion, but none performed better in the qualification stage than Japan’s Sorato Anraku. He topped one of the qualification routes to gain an edge on the leaderboard over Team USA’s Colin Duffy, Switzerland’s Sascha Lehmann, Germany’s Alex Megos, and Austria’s Jakob Schubert, the hometown favorite. 

Anraku continued to climb well on the semi-finals’ route, a burly progression of blue slopers and “blind,” reachy crimps. But Anraku and many others (Germany’s Megos, France’s Mejdi Schalck, Spain’s Alberto Ginés López, and Team USA’s Jesse Grupper among them) got stymied by unstable positioning in a sequence of rails that required frequent hand-readjustment. 

Still, amid a bottleneck in the semi-final scores, Anraku, Megos, Shalck, and Ginés López were able to advance to the finals. There, Megos set an impressive standard by finding a kneebar-rest midway up the 15-meter wall; he took a long shakeout before continuing into a series of pinches and falling while reaching for a left-hand crimp just shy of the headwall. 

Most of the competitors who followed (Ginés López, Schalck, Japan’s Satone Yoshida) were unable to match Megos’ high point, and instead fell at a left-handed cross move. Commentator Matt Groom speculated that a lack of thorough resting at the kneebar might be contributing to everyone else’s inability to execute the cross sequence as Megos had. Sorato Anraku eventually fell at the left-handed cross too, as did Jakob Schubert. Finally, Sascha Lehmann, climbing last, muscled through the cruxy cross, then pulled through the upper pinches, and fell right beneath the headwall. Lehmann’s performance bumped Megos down from the top spot; Lehmann was presented with the gold medal. Megos was awarded the silver and Schubert the bronze.

Random Thoughts

1. There’s so much to unpack with Janja Garnbret’s dual wins. Yes, she previously earned a silver medal this season at a boulder World Cup in Prague, but this double-gold performance felt like her spiritual return to the World Cup circuit following her long absence, broken toe, etc. And the victories clearly meant a lot to her, as she teared up as she matched the top of the finals’ last boulder, then teared up again on the podium while the Slovenian national anthem played. We don’t often see that type of public emotion from Garnbret. In fact, I can recall only seeing it twice before—when she swept the 2019 boulder season, and when she won Olympic gold. 
2. When Garnbret won the boulder portion, the DJ at the venue started playing Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You.” Sure, that might have been a little schmaltzy, but it signified how much comp fans (and apparently event personnel, such as DJs) love Janja Garnbret. 
3. Barely timing out at the top of that third boulder in the women’s final was excruciating for Natalia Grossman; you could see the deflation in her face when she got the news from the judges. But Grossman still came away from the event as the overall boulder season winner—again.
4. On commentary, Canada’s Alannah Yip announced that this event in Innsbruck was her last boulder World Cup…but she also said she will still participate in the lead discipline with a goal of qualifying for the 2024 Olympics (which will feature boulder and lead combined). So, it was kind of a retirement announcement from Yip, but not fully. It felt more like an announcement of an impending announcement of retirement. 
5. With the 2020 season having been truncated and ultimately cancelled due to the Covid pandemic, this year—2023—marked the first full season since 2019 that a man from Team USA failed to earn on spot on a boulder podium. That’s a bit of a downer statistic for American fans, but it’s worth noting. 
6. Slabs are notoriously boring for spectators to watch, so I think the routesetters should be commended for crafting some visually appealing slab sequences throughout the weekend. The most memorable was the 180-degree (outward-facing) turn that the men had to do on their third boulder in the finals. The crowd went wild every time one of the men spun around on the boulder, and the weirdness of that sequence allowed for some unique beta—like Meichi Narasaki crimping onto a minuscule foothold to reach the top. 
7. I’m excited to see what Sam Avezou can do next boulder season. In the past, he seemed resigned to the mid-20s, in terms of his placement in event results (for example, 23rd place at the Salt Lake City World Cup and 23rd place at the Hachioji World Cup). But this event in Innsbruck proved he is still improving and capable of reaching a podium. Add Avezou’s name to the ever-growing list of French standouts this season (Paul Jenft, Mejdi Schalck, Oriane Bertone, etc). 
8. This win in the lead discipline felt like a really big waypoint for Sascha Lehmann’s career. He came really close to winning a lead World Cup in Koper last season, but couldn’t quite pull it off. He also hovered on or near podiums a couple times in 2021, but never claimed a gold medal that season. By my calculations, his last World Cup gold was in Villars in 2019. That means 2023 is already the best season he’s had in several years—and it has only just begun!
9. It was great to see South Korea’s Jain Kim back in a lead World Cup—following what many fans figured was a retirement (after an unsuccessful bid to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics). Granted, Kim didn’t have the best ending to her weekend in Innsbruck; it looked like she missed a vital jib with her right hand on the semi-finals route, and her eventual score of 32+ was not enough to eek into finals. But on the bright side, it looked like she had more in the tank, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we see her in a finals at some point this season. 

Results 

Boulder

Women

1. Janja Garnbret (SLO)
2. Natalia Grossman (USA)
3. Miho Nonaka (JPN)
4. Brooke Raboutou (USA)
5. Ai Mori (JPN)
6. Futaba Ito (JPN)

Men

1. Sorato Anraku (JPN)
2. Meichi Narasaki (JPN)
3. Sam Avezou (FRA)
4. Jongwon Chon (KOR)
5. Nicolas Collin (BEL)
6. Simon Lorenzi (BEL)

Lead

Women

1. Janja Garnbret (SLO)
2. Ai Mori (JPN)
3. Jessica Pilz (AUT)
4. Brooke Raboutou (USA)
5. Chaehyun Seo (KOR)
6. Mia Krampl (SLO)
7. Natalia Grossman (USA)
8. Hélène Janicot (FRA)

Men

1. Sascha Lehmann (SUI)
2. Alex Megos (GER)
3. Jakob Schubert (AUT)
4. Sorato Anraku (JPN)
5. Mejdi Schalck (FRA)
6. Satone Yoshida (JPN)
7. Masahiro Higuchi (JPN)
8. Alberto Ginés López (ESP)
9. Taisei Homma (JPN)

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