Tension, turnarounds and high-level climbing have been the makings of the IFSC Lead World Cup Briançon 2013 last Saturday: Only in the finals both Jain Kim and Ramon Julian Puigblanque secured their victories in this season’s kick-off competition! Only a few days after the Lead and Speed European Championships in Chamonix the city of Briançon has been the venue of the second highlight competition for all climbing fans in France within a week. And after qualifications everything looked like a Chamonix redux at the outdoor venue of Berwick with fledgling European champions Dinara Fakhritdinova (RUS) and Romain Desranges (FRA) leading the field after the first round. But already in half-finals two other Lead climbing greats got into their strides: Sachi Amma and Mina Markovic, overall winners of the IFSC Lead World Cup 2012, took the lead after the semis – but only for a short time!
Because in the finals, everything came quite differently: At the quite difficult final routes (only one top in the women’s competition, no tops for the men) Lead specialists Jain Kim and Ramon Julian Puigblanque started their races to catch up. Ranked sixth after the semis Korea’s strong female Lead athlete was the only woman to top out in the finals while the Spaniard, starting from fifth place, went furthest in the men’s final – first World Cup gold in 2013 for Jain Kim and Ramon Julian Puigblanque, the silver medals in Briançon went to halftime leaders Mina Markovic and Sachi Amma!
Final Results MEN Lead
1 Ramón Julian Puigblanque ESP
2 Sachi AMMA JPN
3 Cédric Lachat SUI
4 Domen Skofic SLO
5 Manuel Romain FRA
6 Stefano Ghisolfi ITA
7 Gautier Supper FRA
8 Thomas Tauporn GER
Final Results WOMEN Lead
1 Jain Kim KOR
2 Mina Markovic SLO
3 Hélène Janicot FRA
4 Dinara Fakhritdinova RUS
5 Charlotte Durif FRA
6 Akiyo Noguchi JPN
7 Katharina Posch AUT
8 Magdalena Röck
Next stage will be Imst Austria
