Japan clean sweep and another Gold for Janja

Thunderstorms heavily disrupted the Boulder finals in Innsbruck but it certainly didn’t dampen the entertainment as Slovenian Janja Garnbret claimed her second World Cup win of the week in the women’s event and in the men’s, Japan occupied all three podium positions.

The thunderstorms meant that only 3 of the 4 bloc events could take place in the women’s event and without the final boulder it was once again Janja Garnbret of Slovenia that came out on top, earning her second gold medal of the World Cup in Innsbruck, having also achieved first place in the Lead final. Close behind Garnbret was the USA’s Natalia Grossman, who also secured a top on all three boulder runs in the final. Completing the women’s podium was Serbia’s Stasa Gejo, who took home medals in Boulder and Combined at the IFSC European Championships Moscow 2020.

In fourth place was Japan’s Futaba Ito, with her compatriot Akiyo Noguchi following in fifth for the final World Cup of her stunning Sport Climbing career. Aged 32, Noguchi has competed in an incredible 169 world cups and World Championships, standing atop the podium a sensational 75 times since her first international competition in 2005. The Olympian’s closing competition will be the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 this summer – a fitting send-off following a stunning career.

Due to knee injury Miho Nonaka, also of Japan, was unable to compete in this evening’s Boulder final.

In the men’s event, which took place slightly later than scheduled due to the storm, Japan’s Yoshiyuki Ogata, Tomoa Narasaki, and Kokoro Fujii climbed their way onto the podium. Topping two out of three boulders, Ogata secured first place and earned his second gold World Cup medal. His teammates Narasaki and Fujii placed second and third, respectively, having each topped one boulder. Austria’s Nicolai Uznik achieved fourth place on home soil, besting Belgium’s Simon Lorenzi in fifth and the USA’s Nathaniel Coleman, who placed sixth in the men’s event.

The Women’s Top Five:

1 – Janja Garnbret (SLO)
2 – Natalia Grossman (USA)
3 – Stasa Gejo (SRB)
4 – Futaba Ito (JPN)
5 – Akiyo Noguchi (JPN)

The Men’s Top Five:

1 – Yoshiyuki Ogata (JPN)
2 – Tomoa Narasaki (JPN)
3 – Kokoro Fujii (JPN)
4 – Nikolai Uznik (AUT)
5 – Simon Lorenzi (BEL)

All this is the perfect warm up for the Olympic Sport Climbing event which gets under way on 3rd August.