Eliska Adamovska, Stefano Ghisolfi seal IFSC World Cup wins in Briancon
Czech climber Adamovska won a maiden title on her finals debut, while Ghisolfi sealed top spot for the first time in almost three years.
Sport Climbing
Eliska Adamovska capped a memorable sport climbing World Cup final debut with victory in Briancon, France, on Sunday (18 July).
The 20-year-old Czech secured a thrilling 36th hold to win the women’s lead event.
Highly-rated USA climber Natalia Grossman, who has won two World Cup events this season, settled for second place and a seventh podium finish this season.
There was a maiden World Cup podium debut for Slovenia’s former youth world champion Vita Lukan who finished third.
In the men’s lead final, Stefano Ghisolfi landed his first title in almost three years.
The Italian scored 42+ to land top spot, ahead of Russia’s Dmitrii Fakirianov and Czech Martin Stranik in third in second and third respectively
The win will be a relief to Ghisolfi, who had agonisingly finished second twice this season.
USA star Sean Bailey, seeking a hatrick of World Cup wins, finished fourth.
S,port climbing will make its Olympic debut at the Tokyo 2020 Games in 2021, in its combined format. All athletes will compete in lead, bouldering and speed competitions and will finish with one final score.
Adamovska’s fellow Czech, and five-time world champ Adam Ondra is an early favourite for gold in the men’s event, as the first man ever to ascend a 9c+ bouldering route (considered the hardest in the world).
Slovenia’s Janja Garnbret is the one to watch out for in the women's tournament. The 22-year-old has won world titles, including the 2018 and 2019 combined events.
The sport climbing event will take place from 3 August to 6 August 2021, and you can read our full event preview here, and you can watch Olympic Channel series 'Road to Tokyo: Sport Climbing - The Qualifier Stories' here.