Janja Garnbret and Team Japan storm to victory at Innsbruck Sport Climbing World Cup

Janja Garnbret and Team Japan illuminated the IFSC Sport Climbing World Cup in Austria's Innsbruck on Friday and Saturday 25/26 June.

Ogata Yoshiyuki, Narasaki Tomoa, and Fujii Kokoro, finished first, second and third in the men's boulder final on Saturday making it a podium clean sweep in the Kletterzentrum.

But Japan weren't the only ones in top form up in Innsbruck, Slovenian Olympic hope Garnbret claimed her 28th and 29th World Cup title in lead on Friday and boulder on Saturday.

Clouds gathered and the competition was struck by a storm on Saturday evening forcing the women's event to be cut short before some climbers' final attempt at the third boulder on the outdoor course, Garnbret awarded the win after final scores were calculated on performances up to that point.

Despite the weather it was a dazzling display of climbing, Garnbret winning in style, achieving the only top of Friday's lead final with a spectacular leap to the final hold, then on Saturday three tops in three boulders left her on top of the pile again.

USA climber Natalia Grossman placed second, matching Garnbret on three tops, but had more attempts on boulder three in the semi-final, and Serbia's Stasa Gejo was third after the event was cut short.

A delighted Garnbret later said:

"Of course I'm sad that the last boulder was cancelled but I think I started well, I had three flashes, I showed my best in the semis there's nothing to be said about it."

Next up is Villars in Switzerland for her final World Cup of the season.

"I'm very excited, so I'm going home for a few days, do one training and then back on the road to Villars but I'm very excited to have one more chance in lead and of course in speed and then it's time to go to Tokyo."

Garnbret was forced to wait for the confirmation of her win after a timeout taken in the hope that the storm would pass. It didn't and Garnbret was announced champion, with the men's event delayed by an hour.

Japan sweep boulder podium

But that delay didn't affect Team Japan who claimed the top three places in the semi-final and found the magic again in the final.

With the rain continuing to fall the extra humidity made it tricky for everyone, and the final was cut from the usual four boulders to three because of time restrictions.

Ogata Yoshiyuki was the only one to negotiate a difficult opening jump and top out on the first boulder, then topped the second too to almost assure victory in Austria.

Narasaki Tomoa joined him at the top of boulder two, adding two zones to give him second step on the podium.

And third-placed Fujii Kokoro - the only athlete to achieve four tops in the semi-final - finished with a flourish when he nailed the tricky final slab boulder after failing on the first two to join his Japan teammates on the podium.

"I'm so happy but unfortunately we couldn't try all four boulders," the winner Ogata said, "so I'm so happy but I'm sad about that."

Asked if it was difficult with the rain delay he said that having a big team meant there was lots of support within the group:

"Thankfully we had three Japanese so we could talk and we could climb together so it wasn't so hard for me."

Men's Lead: Home hero Schubert delivers

With hometown support behind him, Jakob Schubert scaled to the top of the men's lead podium on Friday with a score of 47+, notching his 22nd World Cup career title.

It was the third time he managed to win here at the Innsbruck leg of the World Cup, clearly enjoying the home advantage.

But there was a big surprise as Czech star Adam Ondra slipped at hold 17 in tricky conditions with the rain and the heat taking their toll on many climbers over the weekend.

Still clearly troubled by that shoulder injury too, a series of slips on the first section of the wall left the Czech Olympic hope in last place.

In his noticeable absence from the podium Italian Stefano Ghisolfi claimed second on 47 points with Switzerland’s Sascha Lehmann just behind him in third place.

Women's lead: Pure gold from Garnbret

Another podium-topping performance from the Slovenian sensation Garnbret on Friday once more underlined her credentials as we head towards the sport's debut in Tokyo.

She does it in style too, giving the crowd a look before jumping to her final hold.

She was joined on the podium by other Olympic hopefuls Brooke Raboutou (USA) in second, and Noguchi Akiyo (Japan) in third - two climbers at opposing ends of their careers.

20-year-old Raboutou is rising fast, earning her third World Cup medal and her first ever second place finish, while Noguchi, 32, has said she will retire after the Tokyo Olympics, hoping to finish on a high with an Olympic medal in her home Games.