On Saturday evening, the 2025 World Cup season ended with a thrilling finale. At the Lead World Cup in Koper, Janja Garnbret and Sorato Anraku won for the third time in a row the gold medal.
It has been a while since we have seen so many greats of the sport at once: At the IFSC Lead World Cup in Koper saw climbing legends like Adam Ondra, Jakob Schubert, Janja Garnbret or Jain Kim As in 2023 and 2024, Garnbret and Sorato Anraku in the challenging final routes against the competition.
Head-to-head race to the final
Even before the final, local favorite Janja Garnbret and South Korea's Chaehyun Seo engaged in a thrilling duel. Both were the only athletes to top the two qualification routes, and both advanced to the final with the same score. Laura Rogora and Erin McNeice Two more lead gold medalists climbed into the final round, joined by Belgium's Heloïse Doumont with her third final appearance of the season.
In the men’s qualification there were more top finishes overall. Sorato Anraku, Toby Roberts, Jakob Schubert and Satone Yoshida climbed both qualification routes. All four athletes later advanced to the final – Anraku and Roberts closely behind each other in the first two places. Schubert started in fifth place and Ondra in eighth place ahead of Yannick Flohe, who narrowly missed the last World Cup final of the season. Alberto Gines Lopez and Neo Suzuki rounded out the field. The surprise of the evening: Indonesia's Putra Tri Ramadani, who secured his first World Cup final in fourth place.
Four Slovenian finalists in front of their home crowd
In addition to Garnbret, Rosa Rekar, Lucija Tarkus, and Lucka Rakovec also advanced to the women's final, which thus consisted of half Slovenian athletes. For Rakovec, who recently took a long break due to cancer, reaching the final was a clear triumph – and the support of the home crowd in Koper was clearly palpable.
I'm glad I can climb strongly again. The route in the semifinal was very demanding, but I knew I could do it.
Lucka Rakovec
Unlike in the semifinal route, Garnbret climbed past the entire competition in the final. She was the only one to reach the final sequence of the visibly difficult final route. "The route-setting team definitely had Janja's current skill level in mind," noted IFSC commentator Matt Groom. Her foot slipped on the jump to the top, but Garnbret still placed impressively ahead of the rest of the field. This is her 31st gold medal in a Lead World Cup. Chaeyun Seo took silver, and Laura Rogora took bronze.
Anraku beats two Olympic champions in Koper
In the men’s competition, Sorato Anraku through – as he had done in Wujiang and Chamonix. The 18-year-old Japanese kept things exciting until the end, but ultimately narrowly beat the high point of Spaniard Ginés López. Anraku shared his ninth podium of the season with another Olympic champion, Toby Roberts.
The men's final route was also not topped. However, an early fall by Japan's Neo Suzuki and an unfortunate foot slip by Adam Ondra caused visible frustration for both athletes. Jakob Schubert climbed in his first appearance since his long-term finger injury to a solid 5th place.
These are the overall winners of the 2025 Lead World Cup
Alberto Ginés López secured the overall lead title for 2025. In the women's race, Erin McNeice took the season's winner, ahead of Chaehyun Seo and Laura Rogora. Garnbret, who only participated in two World Cups this year, remained in seventh place. Germany's Yannick Flohe ends the season in seventh place in the overall ranking.
Seoul: World Championships from September 20th
The international climbing elite will meet one last time this year: at the World Championships in Seoul. From 20 to 28 September, the disciplines Boulder, Lead, Speed and paraclimbing All information about the event will be available here soon.
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Credits cover photo: Emiliano Villani/IFSC