New Talents on The Rise In Arco For The IFSC Lead & Speed World Youth Championships

Published by Mountainblog on .

The IFSC Lead and Speed World Youth Championships have just ended here in Arco, and with Youth A, Youth B, and Juniors competing, the event was full of promising performances from sport climbing’s rising stars!

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The idyllic mountain town of Arco was in the spotlight this week, as more than 750 young athletes gathered to compete on the city’s spectacular outdoor climbing structures, and it was great to see so many young athletes from a lot of different countries performing at a
world-class level!

Rising stars take gold in Lead
Ashima Shiraishi (USA) and Janja Garnbret (SLO) dominated the Female Youth B and Female Youth A categories respectively. Although they were not competing in the same category, they both managed to top the same final route and secure gold with a comfortable margin. When these two prodigies reach the Senior category, their rivalry will no doubt make for one of the most exciting duel the climbing world has ever seen. In the Junior category, all-time favourite Anak Verhoeven (BEL) took gold with 50+, ahead of Jessica Pilz (AUT), who fell one move below, and Julia Chanourdie (FRA), who completes the podium with a score of 47+.

In the men’s Youth event, Sam Avezou (FRA) won the Male Youth B competition, while Sascha Lehmann (SUI) took gold in the Male Youth A World Championship. In the Junior category, both Bernhard Rock (AUT) and Jesse Grupper (USA) managed to stick the final route’s wild
dyno and top the route, and Bernhard Rock won thanks to his result in the semi-final. Keiichiro Korenaga (JPN) completes the podium with a score of 53+.

Full Speed ahead!
While Speed heavyweights Russia and Ukraine dominate the podiums, there was still a great variety of countries represented in the early final rounds, with young athletes coming from countries not usually represented in international competitions, such as Iran, Indonesia, and Ecuador. These results are promising for the development of Speed climbing facilities and its popularity in a wider range of countries.

Buoyed by the intense cheers of its home crowd, the Italian delegation managed to grab one gold medal and one bronze. The USA, France, Iran and Poland all secured either a first or second place finish in one category, and these promising performances made for an outstanding
show under the city’s iconic climbing arch!

All results are available here 

Next stop for IFSC events: Puurs (BEL) The IFSC Lead World Cup season continues in Puurs, Belgium, on September 26-27.

More information on the event, as well as live streaming of the semi-finals and finals here.