Garnbret Goes Undefeated and Desgranges Reclaims Gold in Briançon
Three in a row for the young Janja Garnbret, while Romain Desgranges wins at home in third IFSC Lead World Cup of 2017
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The IFSC World Cup tour returned to France this weekend for the third lead event of the season, held in Briançon. Janja Garnbret of Slovenia continued her winning streak by claiming her third gold medal in a row and the Frenchman Romain Desgranges, cheered on by his home crowd, won his second gold medal of the season.
The undefeated Garnbret advanced her overall lead world cup ranking to 300 points, 90 points ahead of Belgium’s Anak Verhoeven, who took silver in Briançon. Jain Kim of Korea, who took bronze in Briançon, rounds out
the top three of the overall ranking with 200 points, just 10 shy of Verhoeven in second place.
Julia Chanourdie of France, Jessica Pilz of Austria, Margo Hayes of the United States, Salomé Romain of France, and Mina Marcovic of Slovenia completed the finals spread in Briançon. Chanourdie placed fourth with 30+ points, Pilz placed fifth with 26+ points, Hayes placed sixth with 26+ points, Salomé placed seventh with 26+ (placing went to semifinals scores), and Marcovic placed eighth with 20+ points.
In the men’s event, a tough finals route caused the athletes to fall at various points. Desgranges pushed hard in front of his home crowd to claim his second gold of the season with 41 points. Canadian crusher Sean McColl and Italian climber Stefano Ghisolfi managed to cut loose through the two-handed dyno that had defeated Sean Bailey, of Team U.S.A., and Masahiro Higuchi of Japan, and proceeded into the upper section. McColl took second place, only two points behind leader, and Ghisolfi placed third with 35 points. Higuchi placed fourth, Bailey placed fifth, Marcello Bombardi of Italy placed sixth, Naoki Shimatani of Japan placed seventh and Sebastian Halenke of Germany placed eighth.
Also representing Team U.S.A., along with Hayes and Bailey, Jesse Gruper, Kai Lightner and Martin Kuhnel placed 29th, 32nd and 58th, respectively, while for the women young Brooke Raboutou narrowly missed out on finals and placed 13th overall, and Megan Martin, Audrey Sniezek and Lesley Ladlad placed 35th, 44th and 54th.
The next IFSC Lead World Cup will take place in Arco, Italy, on the 25th and 26th of August.
Lead Results – Finals:
Women Men
1. Janja Garnbret (SLO), 39+ points 1. Romain Desgranges (FRA), 41 points
2. Anak Verhoeven (BEL), 38+ 2. Sean McColl (CAN), 39
3. Jain Kim (KOR), 36+ 3. Stefano Ghisolfi (ITA),
35
4. Julia Chanourdie (FRA), 30+ 4. Masahiro Higuchi (JPN), 29
5. Jessica Pilz (AUT), 26+ 5. Sean Bailey (USA), 28+
6. Margo Hayes (USA), 26+ 6. Marcello Bombardi (ITA), 27
7. Salomé Romain (FRA), 26+ 7. Naoki Shimatani (JPN), 22.5
8. Mina Marcovic (SLO), 20+ 8. Sebastian Halenke (GER), 13+
Click here for complete results.
Watch the highlights from finals: