19-year-old Brit Hamish McArthur has won bronze in the IFSC Lead World Championships in Moscow, Russia. Hamish adds this medal to his double World Youth Champion titles in Lead and Boulder that he won in Voronezh last month. 

Having narrowly missed out on finals last weekend in Boulder - his first ever senior Boulder event - in 7th place, Hamish pulled out the stops in Lead and proved himself to be a medal contender early on, qualifying in 2nd place behind Tomoa Narasaki for quarter-finals, before claiming the only Top in the semi-final, beating Lead climbers of high pedigree such as Olympic bronze medallist Jakob Schubert (AUT) and overall 2021 IFSC Lead World Cup winner Stefano Ghisolfi (ITA). 

In the final, Luka Potocar (SLO) and Jakob Schubert (AUT) both managed Tops. The pressure was on for Hamish to match their efforts and finish 1st on countback, but after an awkward rest and a difficult crimpy section, Hamish powered out on the dynamic last move to the top hold and finished 3rd. 

Schubert commented on Hamish's performance: 'It's a great sucess for him, for such a young guy. He posted a photo of him with me as a young boy seven years ago, so it's a cool story but I guess I was the lucky one today.'

Fellow Brits William Bosi and Billy Ridal finished 11th and 26th respectively. 

The women's final is due to take place shortly. GB Climbing's Molly Thompson-Smith finished in 11th place in semis, just missing out on a final spot after multiple appeals.

Stay tuned for comments from Hamish...