Janja Garnbret and Domen Škofic score Slovenian double at Briançon

Slovenia scored another historic double in the Lead World Cup thanks to Janja Garnbret and Domen Škofić who won the third stage in Briançon in France late on Saturday night. The two are obviously the couple to beat: Garnbret has won all three stages so far, while Škofić has won two out of three events and leads the provisional ranking. Garnbret and Škofić dominated in a competition that was by no means easy and, adding further to the difficulties, was marked by terrible weather. In fact, the heavy rain caused problems, forcing the organisers to delay the finals and although the competition took place in the end, some holds were evidently damp.

After the semifinals Garnbret was joint equal with Jain Kim and Anak Verhoeven, but in the final she proved a cut above the rest. She was the only athlete to reach the top; interestingly, she clipped the chain after the allocated time had run out a few holds below the top. The two Austrians Jessica Pilz and Magdalena Röck fell five holds lower and were split on countback, taking silver and bronze respectively, ahead of France’s Hélène Janicot and Mathilde Becerra. Russia’s Dinara Fakhritdinova celebrated her return to competition finals after surviving a stabbing attack in Moscow at the end of last year. Verhoeven was the last to compete in the rain - she had been joint equal with Garnbret in both the semifinals and qualifiers and split by her faster ascent in the semis - but the Belgian’s hand slipped while dynoing for a hold and she precipitated to 8th place, just ahead of young Kajsa Rosen.

In the men's competition - that started late due to the rain - Škofić made up for missing the Villars final a week ago. At Briançon he beat home favorite Romain Desgranges by a whisker while Sean McColl, who had won in Switzerland, demonstrated his usual class to win bronze. Gautier Supper, Masahiro Higuchi, Sascha Lehmann, Urban Primozic placed 4th to 7th respectively, while Jakob Schubert completed his run a surprising 8th after his heelhook slipped off low on the route.

The fourth stage of the Lead World Cup 2016 will take place at Imst, Asutria, on 19 and 20 August 2016.



MALE
1 Domen Škofic SLO 37+
2 Romain Desgranges FRA 37
3 Sean McColl CAN 35+
4 Gautier Supper FRA 34
5 Masahiro Higuchi JPN 24+
6 Sascha Lehmann SUI 24
7 Urban Primozic SLO 20+
8 Jakob Schubert AUT 16
9 Stefano Ghisolfi ITA
10 Meichi Narasaki JPN
11 Hanwool Kim KOR
12 Francesco Vettorata ITA
13 Ramón Julian Puigblanque ESP
14 Sean Bailey USA
15 Thomas Joannes FRA
16 Hannes Puman SWE
17 Mario Lechner AUT
18 Charli Blein FRA
19 David Firnenburg GER
19 Rustam Gelmanov RUS
21 Kaya Otaka JPN
22 Kevin Huser SUI
23 Anatole Bosio FRA
24 Alberto Gotta ITA
25 Martin Tekles GER
26 Sebastian Halenke GER
27 Loïc Timmermans BEL
28 Ruben Firnenburg GER
29 Seungwoon Cho KOR
29 Jihwan Park KOR
31 Yannick Flohé GER
32 Àlex Hernández Castilla ESP
33 Christoph Hanke GER
34 Minoru Nakano JPN
35 Kai Harada JPN
36 Max Rudigier AUT
36 Adrien Tribout FRA
38 Martin Bergant SLO
38 Nathan Michel FRA
38 Benisaac Tresco USA
41 Javier Cano Blazquez ESP
42 Marcello Bombardi ITA
43 James Pope GBR
43 Piotr Schab POL
45 Alexey Rubtsov RUS
46 Elan Jonasmcrae CAN
47 Stefano Carnati ITA
48 Arsène Duval FRA
48 Tomas Ravanal CHI
50 Maël Bonzom FRA
50 Campbell Harrison AUS
50 André Neres POR
50 Milan Preskar SLO
50 Bernhard Röck AUT
55 Nao Monchois FRA
56 Iñaki Arantzamendi Irueta ESP
56 Nicolas Collin BEL
58 Thomas Ballet FRA
58 Obed Hardmeier SUI
60 David Barrans GBR
61 Matthias Schiestl AUT
62 Tanguy Topin FRA
63 Dimitri Vogt SUI
64 Sébastien Berthe BEL
65 Martin Jech CZE
66 Nathan Clair FRA
67 Ryo Inoue JPN
68 Francesco Bosco ITA
69 Martin Kuhnel USA
70 Matthew Wellington CAN
71 Oliver Marx RSA
72 Nathan Smith CAN
73 Rolf -Martin Bjørngaard NOR

FEMALE
1 Janja Garnbret SLO 43
2 Jessica Pilz AUT 38+
3 Magdalena Röck AUT 38+
4 Jain Kim KOR 35+
5 Hélène Janicot FRA 33+
6 Mathilde Becerra FRA 32+
7 Dinara Fakhritdinova RUS 23
8 Anak Verhoeven BEL 20+
9 Kajsa Rosen SWE 18+
10 Risa Ota JPN
11 Katharina Posch AUT
12 Delaney Miller USA
13 Julia Chanourdie FRA
14 Ievgeniia Kazbekova UKR
15 Salomé Romain FRA
16 Anne-Sophie Koller SUI
17 Tjasa Kalan SLO
18 Hannah Schubert AUT
19 Seuran Han KOR
20 Nolwenn Arc FRA
21 Asja Gollo ITA
22 Alina Ring SUI
23 Yuka Kobayashi JPN
24 Rebeka Kamin SLO
25 Christine Schranz AUT
26 Claire Buhrfeind USA
27 Katherine Choong SUI
28 Léa Marigo FRA
29 Nolwen Berthier FRA
29 Aya Kikuzawa JPN
31 Julia Fiser AUT
32 Minseon Kim KOR
33 Heloïse Doumont BEL
34 Gabriela Vrablikova CZE
35 Solène Amoros FRA
36 Claudia Ghisolfi ITA
37 Barbara Bacher AUT
38 Yukari Nakamura JPN
39 Veronika Meke SLO
40 Chiara Maria Clostermann GER
41 Kokoro Takata JPN
42 Jenny Lavarda ITA
43 Solveig Korherr GER
44 Silvia Cassol ITA
45 Evelyne Fux SUI
46 Rebecca Frangos CAN
47 Lisa De Martini ITA
48 Celine Cuypers BEL
49 Lenka Slezakova CZE
50 Natsuko Shimizu JPN
50 Lucinda Ann Stirling AUS
52 Ilaria Scolaris ITA
53 Nea Herforth Baehr DEN
54 Muriel Ruíz De Larramendi Arangoa ESP
55 Nanna Söderin SWE
56 Annie Chouinard CAN