At the World Cup in Santiago, Chile, China's Zhao Yicheng and Lijuan Deng won gold in speed climbing. The final set of lead gold medals went to Janja Garnbret and the surprise men's winner, Switzerland's Jonas Utelli. All the weekend's results and the final overall ranking are summarized below.
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Speed gold for Zhao Yicheng and Lijuan Deng
China's national anthem was played twice in the last speed World Cup of the season: The 26-year-old secured the women's title. Lijuan Deng Deng won her second World Cup gold in 2026 in Chile. She competed in the final duel against Emma Hunt from the USA, but climbed with a time of 6,38 seconds, 0,6 seconds faster than the current world record holder. Hunt ran the best time of the event in the semi-final with 6,34 seconds.
Bronze went on Isis Rothfork, also from the USA, who prevailed against China's Yuju Mou in the small final. It is the first World Cup podium for the 22-year-old, who has already climbed into the top 16 several times this year and achieved 4th place in Chamonix.
China also won the gold medal in the men's speed event: For the current world record holder Zhao Yicheng This is his second gold medal this year, after also winning one silver and one bronze. He climbed faster than the Indonesian in the final. The Greatest of Nursamsa With a time of 4,74 seconds, the Chinese climber was also the fastest climber at the event in Chile. Yicheng's current world record is 4,54 seconds, set at the World Cup in Wujiang in May.
The Japanese athlete secured bronze. Ryo Omasa In the bronze medal match against China's Shouhong Chu, who won the Asian Championships and the World Cup in Madrid this year, Omasa's narrow lead of 0,03 seconds secured him his third medal of the season.
8th place for Leander Carmanns from Team Germany
Only one German team made it to the final. Leander Carmanns The final. The 22-year-old qualified for the top 16 in 7th place and initially prevailed against Veddriq Leonardo of Indonesia in the round of 16. In the quarterfinals, however, Carmanns was defeated by Leonardo's teammate Raharjati Nursamsa. The German thus secured 8th place – not a medal, but his third-best result this season.
Andrin Zedler (30st place), Sebastian Luke (35st place), Mia Josephine Schultz (20th place) and Nele Thomas (Place 26) also started for Germany in Santiago, but were eliminated in the qualification.
Garnbret wins again in the lead
That Janja Garnbret There were several reasons why Garnbret was considered the favorite for the final World Cup of 2026: Firstly, the Slovenian won the last two Lead World Cups she had participated in (Innsbruck and Koper). Secondly, Garnbret was the only athlete to top both routes in the qualification round and also climbed further than the competition in the semi-finals. She maintained her lead in the final and secured the victory. the only highlight of the evening also the last gold medal of the season.
Non-personal or anonymized information remains protected by tax secrecy. Disclosure to third parties is only allowed if no identification is possible and both states confirm that no harm to tax administration will occur. Laura Rogora She climbed deep into the headwall in the final but fell just before reaching the top. The Italian not only secured the silver medal with her performance but also her first podium finish of the season. Rogora had only participated in the first and last Lead World Cups of 2026 – she finished eighth in the final at the opening event in Wujiang.
Another medal from Santiago went to Slovenia – to Garnbret's teammate Rosa Rekar, who had already climbed at the top in the qualification and semi-finals. In the final, she climbed as far as Lucka Rakovec (also from Slovenia) and Japan's Ryu Nakagawa, but received the higher score due to her better performance in the semi-finals.
Lucka Rakovec (Rank 4), who had to sit out the 2024 season due to her cancer diagnosis, has delivered several strong performances this year. While she didn't quite reach the podium in Santiago, it is still the 25-year-old's best World Cup result since her illness-related break.
Japan's also Ryu Nakagawa (5th place) and Heloïse Doumont From Belgium (6th place) they reached the final in Chile. The Czech Tereza Siruckova (Ranked 7th) made her debut in a World Cup final this weekend, having narrowly missed out at her home World Cup in Prague. With Ella Fisher (Place 8) was once again a familiar face from this season in the final: The American had recently achieved 5th place in Prague.
Results Lead Final Women
First World Cup victory in Lead for Swiss Jonas Utelli
The 23-year-old already showed promise in the qualifying rounds. Jonas Utelli Utelli from Thun was exceptionally dominant, being the only competitor to top a route. He advanced to the semi-finals in third place, where he qualified for the final with a fourth-place finish.
The Swiss rider secured his golden moment when he set a new high score of 52 points – a score that subsequent finalists Alberto Ginés López, Putra Tri Ramadani, and Neo Suzuki were unable to surpass. For Utelli, it is the first World Cup gold of his career and also his first medal in a World Cup ever.
Silver went to the season's newcomer from Indonesia, Putra Tri Ramadani, who thus concludes his World Cup year with a total of four medals. The Japanese athlete won bronze. Neo Suzuki, who had already won three Lead World Cups this season.
Satone Yoshida, Ryusei Hamada, and Sorato Anraku were three other climbers from Japan who reached the final. Sam Avezou from France and Alberto Ginés López from Spain also made it into the top eight, but finished in the lower ranks.
Men's Lead Final Results
Three German climbers in the lead semi-finals
Both Anna Apel and Roxana Wienand as well as most Yannick Nagel They made it into the top 24 in Santiago. Annika Müller almost made her semifinal debut: The 20-year-old finished 25th in the qualification. Apel climbed to 15th place in the semifinals, Wienand to 22nd – a solid end to the season for both climbers.
For Yannick Nagel, the semi-final ended with an early fall, finishing in 23rd place. Sebastian Halenke He also competed in Santiago, but this time he was unable to collect enough points in the qualifying round – he finished in 27th place.
Image: Benja Acuña/World Climbing
Image: Benja Acuña/World Climbing
These are the overall winners of 2026 in Lead and Speed climbing.
The winners of the respective overall rankings for 2026 were also crowned at the final Lead and Speed World Cup events in Santiago, Chile. In Lead, Annie Sanders Already declared the winner beforehand – silver went to Janja Garnbret, who improved her position by one place in Santiago. Bronze went to South Korea's Chaehyun Seo, who, however, did not start in Santiago. In the men's competition, Neo Suzuki as expected, the overall lead title, followed by Putra Tri Ramadani (silver) and Alberto Ginés López (bronze).
In the speed event, the gold medal in the overall ranking went to the two current world record holders. Emma Hunt and Zhao YichengThe American and the Chinese athlete each won two World Cups this season and reached the podium several times. Polina Khalkevych (Ukraine) and Ryo Omasa (Japan) won silver in the overall standings, while Desak Made, Rita Kusuma Dewi, and Raharjati Nursamsa (both Indonesia) took bronze.
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Credits cover photo: Benja Acuña/World Climbing