By Mike Rowbottom |
Janja Garnbret earned a fourth consecutive bouldering World Cup title at the International Federation of Sport Climbing’s latest event in Wujiang in China.
The 20-year-old Slovenian, who won the bouldering and combined world titles last year, had finished top in qualifying but knew she would face a strong challenge from her Japanese rivals.
That test was significant, as Akiyo Noguchi, Ai Mori and Miho Nonaka filled places two to four.
However, there was no touching Garnbret, who was the only competitor to top in all four tasks.
Austria’s Jessica Pilz, in fifth place, and sixth-placed Julia Chanourdie of France completed the finalists.
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Garnbret has collected consecutive World Cup wins at Meiringen, Moscow, Chongqing and Wujiang.
The Japanese challenge in the men’s bouldering event was equally strong as their climbers filled four of the six final places, and gold went to Tomoa Narasaki, who finished clear of compatriot Kai Harada.
Austria’s Jakob Schubert was third, ahead of two other Japanese climbers, Keita Dohi and Kokoro Fujii, with sixth place being filled by Germany’s Jan Hojer.
It was a disappointing day for the Czech Republic’s multiple world champion Adam Ondra and Slovenia’s overall Bouldering World Cup winner last year, Jernej Kruder, both of whom were knocked out at the semi-final stage.
Republished with permission from insidethegames.biz.