The most anticipated event on the 2023 IFSC calendar kicked off last week and so far four world champions have been crowned in the individual Boulder and Lead competitions. The top forty climbers across both disciplines have also qualified for the combined Boulder & Lead event this week, which will grant the top three male and top three female climbers Olympic quota places for Paris 2024.

In Boulder, Mickaël Mawem (FRA) became world champion, winning his first-ever IFSC world-level medal in the process, while Janja Garnbret (SLO) earned her seventh world championship title and her third in boulder alone.

With little time to rest for the semi-finalists and finalists both disciplines, Lead finals on Sunday night ended with Ai Mori (JPN) becoming world champion for the first time on countback to semis and veteran Jakob Schubert (AUT) winning his fourth world championship gold.

Shauna Coxsey joined Matt Groom in the commentary box, adding some excellent insight and analysis to the action on the screen.

Here's how it all played out in a hectic first week of competition...

Men's Boulder 

The field was huge and was split into two qualification groups on different boulders. Sorato Anraku (JPN) topped the leaderboard in semis and was the only athlete to top all four boulders.

A strong line-up with a mix of young talent and seasoned competitors made for an exciting and emotional final. After the first two boulders, Sorato led the way with Mickaël Mawem (FRA) and Dohyun Lee (KOR) close behind thanks to their composed top of a tricky slab on dual-tex holds. Boulder 3 involved the 'Mejdi face-out chimney' move that went viral after the Hachioji World Cup. Both Mejdi and Mickaël spotted the face-out jump into the iron cross-like chimney move and topped with a precarious finishing match.

The final boulder brought an element of surprise and suspense, consisting of a paddle dyno on transparent, slick ice cube/jellyfish-like volumes with no texture. Questions in the commentary booth and online pondered: how would climbers' skin work best with the no-tex? Would chalk work, or would water (sticky damp) be better?

Nikolai Uznik (AUT) completed the boulder in just two attempts, which became all the more impressive as further athletes failed to top. Mejdi Schalck (FRA) came close, making the Zone but dropping the last move. The scores led to a dramatic finale: if Mickaël made the Zone, he would win. After a few failed attempts and experiments with different friction techniques, shifting between chalk and a wet cloth, Mickaël finally latched the Zone and continued to the top. 

It was an emotional climax, as Mickaël fell to his knees on the mats. In his post-final interview, he commented "I've waited ten years for this. I've always wanted to be the best one time in climbing and today I am the best and that's crazy." His win came almost exactly two years to the day that he won the Boulder round in the Tokyo 2020 qualification event (on his birthday to boot) and he adds this world championships title to a European championships title from 2019. Mickaël always seems to rise to the occasion at these big events. In the press conference, Mickaël said that he has learnt a lot from the pool of young and upcoming French climbers including Mejdi, Sam Avezou and Paul Jenft.

 

Boulder Men

Women's Boulder 

There were some upsets after the qualification round, with regular semi-finalists and finalists such as Staša Gejo and Miho Nonaka missing the semis cut-off. It was a highly competitive field, split into two groups with different boulders, as for the men. Molly Thompson-Smith (GBR) had the best IFSC boulder round of her career so far, qualifying in 20th place and finishing 18th, having completed some moves and boulders in her self-confessed anti-styles along the way. 

Reigning world champion Janja Garnbret (SLO) and Brooke Raboutou (USA) were the top-two athletes throughout qualification and semi-finals. The line-up in the finals consisted of regular World Cup finalists and first-time finalist Zélia Avezou, the daughter of French competition boulderer and international medallist Cécile Avezou, and sister of rising star Sam Avezou.

Unfortunately, the round was reduced to a three-boulder final, as all six women flashed Boulder 1. The second boulder, a rising traverse on a slab, started to split the field — and just like in the men's round, seemed to suit the French athletes. A tenuous final dynamic move to a double-mono resulted in some heartbreaking falls. Zélia finally stuck the last move with barely a second to spare in a thrilling buzzer-beater finish. Oriane Bertone (FRA) followed suit, topping in three attempts, before Janja flashed the boulder with ease. Boulder 3 involved a dramatic coordination and paddle dyno, which defeated all but Oriane and Janja. So confident was Janja that she could pause mid-paddle, slowly campus and Top the problem.

Boulder 4 had an equally hard finish, involving a dynamic compression move. Brooke Raboutou (USA), clinched bronze with a confident flash, knocking Zélia into 4th position and Oriane retaining a well-deserved 2nd place. Janja completed her clean sweep of the final round, flashing the boulder and looking rather nonplussed as she walked off the mats, apparently in disbelief at her win. Out of the 13 boulders in the event, she flashed 11 of them. This is Janja's third Boulder world championship win, and nobody appears close to unseating her in this discipline as we look towards the combined Boulder & Lead competition next week. 

She commented post-climb:

"It's hard to put into words right now what I feel. To be honest I never get used to winning. I will probably never get used to stepping onto the podium and celebrating the first place because it's just so incredibly hard to keep the level up because the girls are so strong and coming after me, and it's hard to keep up with them. Every win means the world to me, it's always like the first one.
 
"The boulders were tricky, so it was easy to fall, but today I was 'the right Janja', as I like to call it, where I was in my own world and my own bubble. I didn't hear or see anything because I was just in the present moment and just enjoying myself on the wall, so I didn't doubt that I would fall once because I was just climbing and enjoying.
 
"The best moments were probably the slabs. Everyone knows I haven't been the greatest on slabs this year because of the injury and everything going on, it was pretty tough for me training that, so every time I topped a slab I was incredibly happy."

In the press conference, Janja dedicated her medal to the emergency services working to save lives amid the ongoing flooding which has devastated Slovenia. "It was hard to stay focused, I was on the phone to my mum a lot." she said.

 

Boulder Women

Women's Lead 

GB Climbing's Molly Thompson-Smith continued her run of form after making the final in the Briançon Lead World Cup, qualifying for semis in 11th and finals in 4th after a convincing performance on a very difficult semi-final route. Ai Mori (JPN) out-climbed the rest of the field by a considerable margin, reaching five holds higher than Janja Garnbret (SLO), who missed a clip and timed-out on the headwall.

The line-up for finals consisted of a stacked field of seven Olympians and two IFSC Lead World Cup medallists (Ai Mori and Molly) — a total of nine climbers due to countback to semis. The route involved the dual-tex, lime green 'Ghost' holds and a tricky compression/fridge-hugging section low down, before a dyno to a good hold ahead of a more endurance-based second half. Mia Krampl (SLO) set a strong highpoint early on of 42, while most athletes fell just below the headwall. Molly put in a valiant effort, surpassing the lower compression and dyno sections before powering-out at 26+ to finish 9th. Chaehyun Seo (KOR) surpassed Mia's highpoint and reached five moves further to score 47+.

Janja climbed second-to-last, and looked unsettled throughout the lower half of the climb. As soon as she reached the headwall, she appeared to relax, although time was running out. With barely three seconds to spare, she clipped the quickdraw and secured a Top. Only Ai Mori could unseat her by topping and winning on countback to her superior semis performance. Ai climbed quickly and more smoothly than Janja, and topped with time to spare to earn her first world championship win — and became the first Japanese climber to win a Lead World Championships title, man or woman. 2021 world champion Seo Chaehyun (KOR) took bronze, a fine achievement after a nervy World Cup so far in 2023. 

Ai commented after her climb:
 
"Before climbing I told myself to just enjoy it, so it was an exciting time. I knew maybe Janja got a top, so I knew I had too as well. I was nervous before, but now I'm happy."

In the press conference following the final, Janja commented that she was aware after observation that she would need to top the route.

"I knew how close it was, I was checking the time all the time," she said. "I climbed slower than usual, more precise."

This was Janja's ninth world championship medal to date. A harder route might have better showcased these women's talents, but hopefully the route setters for the combined event this week will take their current form into account.

Lead Women

Men's Lead

The men's final route meandered and snaked up the right-hand side of the wall, where the women's semi-final route had been set. It featured a 'lache' move involving a swing from two pockets to a jug across a gap between two big volumes. Due to this move and some technical sections on dual-tex holds, it produced some unexpected results.

Alex Megos (GER) set a strong highpoint of 40, falling just below the headwall, with Dohyun Lee (KOR) - bronze medallist in Boulder the day before - finishing just below on 39. Sorato Anraku (JPN) climbed smoothly to 48 and looked set for a win or a at least a medal, before Jakob Schubert just surpassed him by a + to move into provisional 1st place. Viewers and commentators expected the final athletes - Adam Ondra (CZE) and Britain's Toby Roberts - who had qualified in 1st place for the final - to reach higher still and perhaps even top. Unfortunately, Adam slipped after apparently misreading a move low down and placed 8th, while Toby slipped out of one of the pockets during the lache swing to finish in 9th place. 

These mistakes meant that Jakob took a record fourth men's Lead win, with Sorato in 2nd and Alex in 3rd. Jakob now has ten World Championship medals to his name, one more than Janja — until later this week, perhaps. Speaking at the press conference after the final, Jakob commented:

"This field is so crazy strong, I knew I had to have the climb of my life to win this world championship title again. I feel like the Lead field is stronger than ever. The emotions are crazy right now.
 
"It means so much to challenge one of the craziest talents we have in the sport with Anraku Sorato. He is such an amazing climber and if I can teach him a thing or two it would make me so proud. Maybe I will tell my kids about it, I don't have any now of course, but I can say I taught him a little bit and now he wins everything. You see also Toby [Roberts], super strong young climbers, coming out on top tonight ahead of them means so much to me. 
 
"After being on the circuit for so long you know even better how to live these moments, and I'm living it right now. Winning in this arena is something you never forget."

Lead Men

Qualifications for Boulder & Lead

These 40 athletes will compete in the Boulder and Lead semi-finals on Wednesday (9 August) with a chance to make the finals, where the top 3 per sex will earn Olympic quota places. 

Only Janja Garnbret (SLO) was able to medal in both individual discipline events, with Dohyun Lee (KOR) coming close by placing 3rd and 4th.

Brits Molly Thompson-Smith and Toby Roberts have qualified in 11th and 13th respectively.