On November 26th-27th, elite sport climbers travel to Kranj for the final IFSC Lead World Cup of 2016. Kranj has been hosting Climbing World Cup events for 21 years. This year, the fourth-largest city in Slovenia wraps up an historic 2016 season and crowns a new set of IFSC Lead World Cup winners and IFSC Climbing World Cup Combined champions.
Lead: Slovenia Leading the Way
After winning the IFSC World Youth Championships in Guangzhou earlier this month, Janja Garnbret can officially be called Lead world champion, Bouldering and Lead world youth champion and IFSC Lead World Cup 2016 champion. While the seventeen-year-old Slovenian has already clinched first place in the IFSC Lead World Cup 2016 rankings, a win in her home country would be a fitting end to her stellar season. Anak Verhoeven of Belgium has not been far behind her this year, and a sixth-place finish or better at Kranj would secure the next spot on the podium. Lead legend Jain Kim of Korea has finished among the top three athletes since 2009. She will look to continue the streak this year, but Magdalena Röck of Austria could put a stop to that. Also keep an eye on IFSC Lead World Cup 2015 season victor Mina Markovic of Slovenia. Markovic won Gold at Kranj last year and could don another medal this year.
For the Men, the final podium is still undecided. Domen Skofic won three events this season and currently leads the IFSC Lead World Cup 2016 rankings, but Romain Desgranges of France and Austrian Jakob Schubert can prevent the double victory for Slovenia. Stefano Ghisolfi gained the momentum at the most recent event in Xiamen, and the Italian can climb the rankings with a strong performance at Kranj. Gautier Supper of France can also crack the top ranks if he clips the final chains.
Combined: Garnbret and McColl Champions
Three times Austrian Jakob Schubert has finished at the top of the IFSC Climbing World Cup Combined rankings, but recently Sean McColl of Canada has had the spotlight. McColl placed first in 2014 and second in 2015 to Adam Ondra of the Czech Republic, and this year he has already clinched the Combined victory. Schubert will need to place fifth or better at Kranj to surpass Bouldering star Kokoro Fujii of Japan, not among the starters for Kranj.
For the Women, Garnbret also climbed well in Bouldering this year and has clinched first place in the IFSC Climbing World Cup 2016 Combined rankings. Akiyo Noguchi typically focuses on Bouldering, but she clinched second place in the Combined rankings last month by finishing fourth at IFSC Lead World Cup Xiamen 2016. Her Japanese teammate Yuka Kobayashi will battle Jessica Pilz of Austria for third place, currently held by Russian Anna Tsyganova, also not on the start list for Kranj.
We Are LIVE!
The seventh and final IFSC Lead World Cup of the 2016 season will be streamed LIVE on YouTube. Tune-in to the IFSC website for Semi-Finals at 20:00 on Saturday and Finals at 16:30 on Sunday (GMT+1): www.ifsc-climbing.org
Visit the dedicated Kranj event page to access ticket information, start lists, replays and more.
Please continue to use #IFSCwc to communicate about IFSC Climbing World Cup events and interact with us on Twitter during the LIVE streaming.
IFSC WORLD CUP (L) KRANJ (SLO)
Provisional Programme (GMT+1)
– Saturday, November 26
09:00 Men Lead Qualification
14:00 Women Lead Qualification
20:00 Men & Women Lead Semi-Finals
– Sunday, November 27
16:30 Lead Finals (Men, then Women)
(After Finals) Awarding Ceremony.
