July 8, 2018
While France and Russia both picked up multiple medals at the weekend’s climbing in Villars, Switzerland, it was Slovenia’s Janja Garnbret who won the women’s lead event, making a strong start to a season she’s expected to dominate. As the official press release for the event put it: “The final athlete to climb in Villars, Garnbret completed a 180-spin, dangling by one arm, followed by a pull-up without feet. The 2017 lead and combined season champion calmly chalked-up amidst the challenging crimps in the last section and fell at the top for the victory”. You can see her in action in the highlights below, or watch her full climb in the second video.
Garnbret is now top of the women’s lead rankings, followed by Jessica Pilz (Austria) and Jain Kim (Korea), with the full results here. Meanwhile it was Jakob Schubert (Austria) who won the men’s lead, while Slovenia’s other star climber, Domen Škofic, took ninth place (full results).
With regard to speed climbing, the women’s event was won by Anouck Jaubert (France), while the men’s by Aleksandr Shikov (Russia).
The next events in the season are the lead and speed climbing competitions to be held in Chamonix, France, from July 11–13.
