Lead World Cup 2016: Janja Garnbret and Sean McColl victorious in Villars

Knowing that this golden opportunity was simply too good to be missed, Sean McColl of Canada kept his nerve and powered smoothly to victory - his first Lead World Cup win since Xining in China back in 2012. Japan’s Keiichiro Korenaga and France’s Thomas Joannes fell three holds lower and were consequently separated on countback to the Semi-Finals, with both celebrating their first ever World Cup medals. America’s Sean Bailey and Slovenia’s Urban Primozic put in their best performances to date, too, and finished 4th and 5th respectively, ahead of "veteran" Jakob Schubert who despite a foot slip managed to hold off the strong Japanese challenge in the form of Masahiro Highuchi and Kokoro Fujii, 7th and 8th respectively.

Although there were some surprise exclusions in the women’s event - notably World Cup 2015 winner Mina Markovič who is currently struggling to find her competition form - the top three podium positions were filled by those who had won in Chamonix just four days earlier, namely Janja Garnbret, Anak Verhoeven and Jain Kim. This identical, photocopy podium came about thanks to Garnbret’s inspirational two-handed dyno onto two pinches, a move which had stopped the previous four athletes and which looked like becoming the route setter’s worst nightmare. Verhoeven, Kim, Jessica Pilz and Magdalena Röck were all separated on countback, while Christine Schranz and Yuka Kobayashi fell lower. Despite finishing last, Frances Salomé Romain will remember Villars fondly since this was her first-ever senior Lead World Cup final.

The Speed event went to the wire and was won by Marcin Dzienski of Poland and Anouck Jaubert of France, only days after their Speed victory in Chamonix. Iuliia Kaplina of Russia and Danyil Boldyrev of Ukraine took silver, while Elma Fleuret of France and Stanislav Kokorin of Russia took bronze.

The next stage of the Lead World Cup 2016 will take place in Briançon, France on 22 and 23 July 2016.



MEN
1 Sean McColl CAN 28+
2 Keiichiro Korenaga JPN 25+
3 Thomas Joannes FRA 25+
4 Sean Bailey USA 24+
5 Urban Primozic SLO 22
6 Jakob Schubert AUT 19
7 Masahiro Higuchi JPN 19
8 Kokoro Fujii JPN 17
9 Stefano Ghisolfi ITA
10 Naoki Shimatani JPN
11 Charli Blein FRA
12 Nathan Michel FRA
13 Domen Skofic SLO
13 Gautier Supper FRA
15 Hanwool Kim KOR
16 Jihwan Park KOR
17 Maël Bonzom FRA
18 Sascha Lehmann SUI
19 Stefano Carnati ITA
20 Loïc Timmermans BEL
21 Nicolas Collin BEL
22 Minoru Nakano JPN
23 Yuki Hada JPN
24 Martin Tekles GER
25 Ramón Julian Puigblanque ESP
26 Sebastian Halenke GER
27 Romain Desgranges FRA
28 Francesco Vettorata ITA
29 Stephane Hanssens BEL
30 Alberto Gotta ITA
31 Elan Jonasmcrae CAN
32 Mario Lechner AUT
33 Martin Bergant SLO
34 Christoph Hanke GER
35 Marcello Bombardi ITA
36 Kai Harada JPN
37 Seungwoon Cho KOR
38 Tomas Ravanal CHI
39 Obed Hardmeier SUI
40 Remo Lehmann SUI
41 Sébastien Berthe BEL
42 Meichi Narasaki JPN
42 Benisaac Tresco USA
44 Javier Cano Blazquez ESP
45 Francesco Bosco ITA
46 Ruben Firnenburg GER
47 Nathan Smith CAN
47 Dimitri Vogt SUI
49 Matthias Schiestl AUT
50 Àlex Hernández Castilla ESP
51 Kevin Huser SUI
52 Benjamin Blaser SUI
53 Martin Jech CZE
54 Iñaki Arantzamendi Irueta ESP
55 Mikhail Chernikov RUS
56 Adrien Tribout FRA
57 Max Rudigier AUT
58 Bernhard Röck AUT
59 Martin Kuhnel USA
60 Campbell Harrison AUS
61 Rolf -Martin Bjørngaard NOR
62 Jakub Dvorak CZE
63 Matthew Wellington CAN
64 Rahul Sapra CAN
65 Oliver Marx RSA
66 Tomas Binter CZE

WOMEN
1 Janja Garnbret SLO 48+
2 Anak Verhoeven BEL 41+
3 Jain Kim KOR 41+
4 Jessica Pilz AUT 41+
5 Magdalena Röck AUT 41+
6 Christine Schranz AUT 26+
7 Yuka Kobayashi JPN 26+
8 Salomé Romain FRA 15
9 Hélène Janicot FRA
10 Hannah Schubert AUT
11 Risa Ota JPN
12 Julia Chanourdie FRA
13 Mathilde Becerra FRA
14 Anne-Sophie Koller SUI
15 Mina Markovic SLO
16 Nikki Van Bergen NED
17 Rebeka Kamin SLO
18 Mei Kotake JPN
19 Asja Gollo ITA
20 Dinara Fakhritdinova RUS
21 Katharina Posch AUT
22 Claudia Ghisolfi ITA
23 Alina Ring SUI
24 Nolwen Berthier FRA
25 Katherine Choong SUI
26 Gabriela Vrablikova CZE
27 Evelyne Fux SUI
28 Charlotte Durif FRA
29 Andrea Kümin SUI
30 Lisa De Martini ITA
30 Jenny Lavarda ITA
30 Lenka Slezakova CZE
33 Minseon Kim KOR
34 Solène Amoros FRA
34 Nolwenn Arc FRA
34 Silvia Cassol ITA
34 Chiara Maria Clostermann GER
34 Michelle Hulliger SUI
34 Léa Marigo FRA
40 Karina Miroslaw POL
41 Julia Fiser AUT
41 Ilaria Scolaris ITA
43 Celine Cuypers BEL
44 Seuran Han KOR
45 Delaney Miller USA
46 Rebecca Frangos CAN
47 Muriel Ruíz De Larramendi Arangoa ESP
48 Lucinda Ann Stirling AUS
49 Hannarai Song KOR
50 Annie Chouinard CAN
51 Ievgeniia Kazbekova UKR