2023 Lead World Cup Villars: Garnbret and Schubert Take Gold

2023 Lead World Cup Villars Results

The second lead world cup has taken place in Villars-sur-Ollon, Switzerland with over 170 professional athletes gathering together to compete in the lead climbing event. Despite the rain, fog, and humid conditions, the lead climbers were full of focus and excited to overcome the challenging routes set at the 2023 Lead World Cup Villars event.

Women’s Lead Climbing

The Olympic gold medalist Janja Garnbret has shown, yet again, that she is the woman to beat this World Cup season. After winning back-to-back gold medals in Innsbruck in both bouldering and lead climbing, she has once again made her way to the top of the podium to claim her overall 25th lead World Cup gold medal at the 2023 Lead World Cup Villars event.

The route set for the women’s lead final was a challenging test of skill and endurance, but the 24-year-old Slovenian held on strong to be the only athlete in the women’s final to TOP the route.

“I feel like I’m at home here. After Innsbruck, I felt confident. I saw that my lead shape is there so I went to compete in Villars with full confidence. I just enjoyed so much the crowd even though it’s raining.”
Janja Garnbret, IFSC 2023 Lead World Cup Villars

Austria’s Jessica Pilz was in good form for this event after receiving the bronze in Innsbruck. She was the first to hit the wall, setting the marker for the evening with a score of 43+. Despite struggling against the clock and having difficulties navigating the top section of the route, her score was enough to secure her the second-place position.

It was neck and neck between American Brooke Raboutou and South Korea’s Chaehyun Seo, who both managed to navigate enough of the tricky top section to reach a 43. Yet, Raboutou was able to take home the bronze over Seo due to a higher semi-final score.

Men’s Lead Climbing

2023 Lead World Cup Villars Jakob Schubert

Photo by: Lena Drapella

One of Austria’s top climbers and no stranger to the World Cup podium, Jakob Schubert, claimed his first gold medal of the season at the 2023 Lead World Cup Villars event. The Olympic bronze medalist showed strong control and the ability to push his limits as he fell just short of reaching the TOP of the route.

“Making finals is already a crazy achievement. Going up against the youngsters but also the old guys, it was just amazing to come out on top today.

It feels also great to be on the podium together with two great friends, Alex and Adam. We were just discussing, ‘Was it one of the oldest podiums ever?’ because Alex is turning 30 this year, I’m 32, Adam is 30. The old guys dominated today.”
Jakob Schubert, IFSC 2023 Lead World Cup Villars

The “old guys” definitely dominated the 2023 Lead World Cup Villars event this evening, with Czechia’s star climber Adam Ondra making a strong and smooth ascent that allowed him to clinch second place with a score of 41+.

Joining Jakob Schubert and Adam Ondra on the podium was Germany’s Alexander Megos who pushed out UK’s Toby Roberts by scoring a 40 to Roberts 39+. This marked Mego’s second medal of the season after receiving the silver medal in men’s lead climbing at the 2023 Lead World Cup in Innsbruck.

Follow Us for Upcoming Events

For more information pertaining to the IFSC World Cup Seoul 2023 results, location, videos, images, etc., please visit the 2023 Lead World Cup Villars event page. The next event is starting shortly with the 2023 Speed World Cup Villars event taking place on July 2.

As we finish off the events in Villars, we look forward to coming back to Switzerland as Bern hosts the Climbing World Championships from August 1-12.