Just days after the conclusion of the marathon Olympic Qualifier Series, the IFSC Innsbruck Boulder & Lead World Cup began. A different mix of athletes, most of whom had not taken part in the OQS, provided an exciting line-up, with early Paris 2024-qualified climbers demonstrating their current competition shape and some new young talent entering the circuit. GB Climbing's Toby Roberts appeared on form ahead of Paris, reaching both finals and finishing 4th in Boulder and 3rd in Lead.

An easy qualification round for the women led to many 5/5 tops and Olympic champion Janja Garnbret (SLO) surprisingly falling down the rankings due to one extra attempt in provisional 5th place. The semi-final round overcompensated, with Garnbret topping the leaderboard on a score of just 2 Tops and 3 Zones in an extremely difficult set of Boulders. Mao Nakamura (JPN) was the only athlete to achieve a Zone on a tough slab Boulder.

A final consisting of Garnbret, Fanny Gibert (FRA) , Jessy Pilz (AUT) and three younger up-and-coming climbers made for an exciting competition, with excellent route-setting to challenge each athlete despite varying levels of experience. Garnbret topped all four boulders in ten attempts and - despite visible nerves amid high expectations - seems on exceptional Boulder form ahead of Paris, finishing the final feet-first boulder with a powerful mantle move in style before thanking the crowd in tears upon winning her twentieth IFSC World Cup gold medal. Teenagers Jenny Buckley (SLO) and Annie Sanders (USA) completed the podium with three Tops each - split by just one attempt - with Buckley in particular showing remarkable composure in what was her first ever Boulder World Cup final. 

In the men's, Jakob Schubert (AUT) was conspicuously absent in the Boulder semi-finals, a surprise ahead of Paris 2024. Young Paris-bound talent Sorato Anraku (JPN) and Toby Roberts (GBR) took the top-two spots. Japan dominated the finals, filling four out of the six spots alongside Toby and Elias Arriagadak Krüger (GER). Sorato provided the only flash of B1, and led the field as no-one achieved even a Zone on B2. Another smooth flash by Sorato on B3 kept him in provisional 1st place, with Toby and Sohta Amagasa (JPN) close behind. The final Boulder involved a one-armed dyno and an awkward, shouldery mantle press into a jib on and undercut volume. Sohta topped in four attempts and Meichi Narasaki (JPN) in five. The pressure was on Toby and Sorato to Top quickly and secure the top two places, but Toby struggled with the awkward start position and dyno while Sorato couldn't get past the Zone after flashing the dyno on his first try. Sohta Amagasa (JPN) earned a well-deserved win and provided an ecstatic interview afterwards. 

Toby Roberts, Janja Garnbret, Jessy Pilz and Annie Sanders were the only athletes to reach finals in both disciplines. Olympic contenders Sorato Anraku and Laura Rogora (ITA) failed to reach Lead finals after a poor semi-final performance. 

The men's final route was bouldery affair with some safari-themed volumes and thrutchy moves that kept athletes and spectators on edge throughout. Tokyo Olympian and Paris hopeful Colin Duffy (USA) was the first to crack into the 40s after a confident climb. Alex Megos (GER), fresh - or not so fresh - from qualifying for Paris at the OQS last week soared to 42+ and set an incredibly high bar for Toby Roberts and Jakob Schubert (AUT) to surpass. Toby, who qualified in 2nd place after semis behind Jakob, fell one move short of Alex. With the support of his home crowd, Jakob looked pumped from just over halfway up but kept battling in his trademark tenacity, reaching 45 and relaxing upon hearing the crowd's confirmation of his win. 

Schubert said: "Climbing here at home is always different, it's always special, and this route today was exceptionally special because it was such a crazy fight from halfway up. Every move I felt like I was going to fall. I might have not been the best climber on the route tonight, but I was the best fighter, and that's what brought me to victory. And it was also only possible because of the crowd.
 
"I'm always really focused and don't hear too much while I climb, I would say. I wouldn't recognise which song was playing, but it was crazy loud when I made that move and I immediately knew that that was probably the victory. From there I felt like I could almost enjoy it… I mean, not really, because I was way too pumped."

The women's route was similarly colourful with distinct changes of pace between each section. The line-up included Olympic-qualified Lead stars Janja, Jessy, Chaehyun Seo (KOR), Ai Mori (JPN) and younger talent including and Annie Sanders, Mattea Pötzi (AUT), Aleksandra Totkova (BUL) and fellow Paris-qualified athlete Yuetong Zhang (CHN). Unfortunately, a risky dyno move about one-third of the way up didn't pay off for the routesetters as five women fell on or around this move, including home favourite Jessy Pilz. Chaehyun Seo continued to 36 on a crimpy headwall section before falling. Ai Mori (JPN) showed her incredible endurance as she calmly topped with time to spare.

The pressure was on Janja to match her performance to take the win on countback. Janja climbed thoughtfully and easily managed the dyno, but started to look fatigued in the following section. She rested and chalked and planned her next moves, her elbows starting to raise due to pump. With just an few seconds to spare, she clipped the Top quickdraw and sunk onto the rope in relief - a hard-earned win after four days of intense competition and a confidence boost for the reigning Olympic champion ahead of Paris. The exciting tension while watching Janja fight to the top almost made up for the disappointment of the stopper move for spectators. 

"Every single win means a lot to me, because I'm always with my feet on the ground, I don't take things for granted, I'm always focused and determined to win, the feeling is incredible every single time," commented Garnbret.
 
"This was my last World Cup before the Olympics. I will go home and take some time to rest, and then train until Paris 2024!"

The IFSC World Cup Series 2024 will continue in Chamonix, France, with Lead and Speed competitions taking place from 12 to 14 July. The last World Cup event before Paris 2024 will then take place in Briançon, France, from 17 to 19 July.