Gold for Janja Garnbret & Neo Suzuki at the Lead World Cup in Koper

At the penultimate Lead World Cup of the season in Koper, Garnbret delivered a spectacular fight on an unusually difficult route in front of a home crowd. Neo Suzuki demonstrated his endurance in the men's final and secured his third gold medal of the season. All results at a glance.

Neo Suzuki wins again, Yoshida and Ramadani climb to silver and gold.

In the men's competition, the challenging final route resulted in mostly early falls for the eight finalists. Ultimately, [the top competitor] prevailed. Neo Suzuki (33+ points) prevailed against the remaining competition for the third time in 2026. The Japanese climber outperformed his compatriot. Satone Yoshida, who won his first medal of the season. None of the athletes climbed to the final third of the route.

Putra Tri RamadaniThe newcomer from Indonesia competed in his first World Cup final in Koper in 2025. A year later, he climbed his way to bronze and his third medal in what was now his fourth final route.

For the 17-year-old South Korean Chanjin Jung It was his first ever World Cup appearance at the senior level. Jung became Youth World Champion in Lead in July – in his first final in Koper, he finished in 8th place. Both South Korea and Italy were represented by two athletes each in the final, who finished in places 5 to 8. France's Sam Avezou narrowly missed the podium and finished fourth.

Men's Final Results

For the four men from the German squad, the World Cup in Koper ended in the qualifying round. The best German was... Otto Reiter (Rank 31) – the best result so far for the 20-year-old in the World Cup series, in which he has only been participating since this season. Yannick Nagel finished in 37th place, Sebastian Halenke in 43rd place and Luca Nündel in 54th place.

^{Images: DimitrisTosidis/World Climbing}

Janja Garnbret wins gold in front of home crowd, Raboutou returns to the podium

The final route wasn't just exceptionally difficult and sustained for the men. In the women's competition, too, the majority of the field fell during the transition to the second half. Finally, the favorite entered the route. Janja Garnbret She was the last climber to take the stage. The Slovenian engaged in a spectacular battle with the route, both for herself and her home crowd: she almost fell twice before climbing just short of the top and thus securing another gold medal. For Garnbret, it also marks the end of her 2026 World Cup season.

Brooke Raboutou She participated in a World Cup final in Koper for the second time this season – but for the first time in lead climbing. The Olympic silver medalist climbed her way directly to the silver medal, overtaking her teammate Annie Sanders in the process. Chaehyun Seo from South Korea. For Raboutou, it is his first World Cup medal in 2026.

With the reigning vice world champion in lead climbing, Rosa RekarSlovenia was once again represented in the final. Like most of the athletes, she fell in the powerful middle section of the route and finished in 5th place. A young South Korean also made her World Cup final debut in the women's competition. Chaeyeong Kim She has participated in the Lead series since 2024, but often missed out on the finals by just a few places. In Koper, the 18-year-old achieved her first top-8 result. Jessica Pilz and Zelia Avezou They finished in 6th and 7th place ahead of her.

Women's Final Results

The German Roxana Wienand climbed to 23rd place in a solid qualifying round, narrowly qualifying for the next round. semifinalsHowever, she fell earlier than the rest of the competition and finished the event in 24th place. For the 26-year-old, this is her second semi-final appearance in two years – in 2025 she finished 22nd at the Lead World Cup in Bali. Anna Maria Apel missed out on the semi-finals, finishing in 26th place. Annika Müller finished in 39th place.

^{Images: Dimitris Tosidis/World Climbing}

Final stop Chile: Lead season draws to a close

In the race for the Overall title in the lead stay Annie Sanders and Neo Suzuki Up front. The last chance to score season points is at the end of October in Santiago, Chile. A total of three Speed ​​Climbing World Cups and one each in Bouldering and Lead climbing remain this season.

These are the final dates of the 2026 season.

That might interest you

• "You have to be able to push yourself to the limit" – Lara Neumeier in an interview
• 2028 Olympics: separate medals for bouldering, lead & speed

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Cover image credits: Emiliano Villani/IFSC