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Women's lead competition
The first lead climbing World Cup of 2025 wrapped in astonishing fashion, as two female climbers tied for gold despite multiple tie-breakers.
In the surprising result on Sunday, South Korea's Chaehyun Seo and Erin McNeice of Great Britain recorded the same scores in the final, semi-final, and qualification rounds in Wujiang, China.
In this extremely rare event, the winner is decided by time spent on the wall in the final round. Both Seo and McNeice recorded the same time of 1 minute and 26 seconds. Without any other means of breaking the tie, both were awarded gold medals - the first time that there have ever been two winners since the IFSC instituted tie-breaking rules.
McNeice and Seo both performed exceptionally well over a tough lead climbing route in Wujiang. This was McNeice's first lead medal, after finishing with bronze in last week's opening Boulder competition.
Despite a steady showing over the past few years, it was Seo's first IFSC gold since her debut season in 2019.
In a joint interview with the IFSC, Seo said: “It’s my first win in four years, and I can’t believe I won with Erin. It’s the first time to win together with someone else on time as well.”
McNeice added: “I purposely tried to climb it quickly, but obviously not quick enough. It was a lot of fun though, and I really enjoyed the fight.”
Due to the unusual result, no silver medal was awarded and the pair was joined on the podium by American favorite Annie Sanders, who climbed consistently throughout to claim bronze.
Men's lead competition
After a tense women's competition, supporters in Wujiang weren't surprised to see the winner of the men's competition, as Japan's Sorato Anraku triumphed yet again to win his second World Cup gold in under a week.
Anraku won gold in the opening IFSC World Cup bouldering event on April 20 and climbed brilliantly to claim another victory in Wujiang.
The 18-year-old won the Lead and the Boulder Series titles in his debut season last year and looks odds-on to repeat the feat in this year's competition, although he's keen to play down expectations early on.
"I’m not aiming for the overall World Cup Series, but I’m aiming to win every event." he told the IFSC.
"Then I guess the overall will take care of itself. But I go one event at a time.”
Also on the podium by his countryman Suzuki Neo, and bronze medalist Alberto Ginés López of Spain, who fell just short of second.
Men's speed competition
The speed competition treated the crowd in Wujiang to two home-grown winners as China's Long Jianguo and Zhang Shaoqin snagged gold in the men's and women's events
After a close-run semi-final match-up with Indonesia's Kiromal round, Long won gold when his opponent in the final, Ukraine's Hryhorii Ilchyshyn, was penalised for a false start.
Katibin won bronze in a tight third-place playoff with reigning World Champion Samuel Watson. The pair were separated by just 0.39 seconds.
Women's speed competition
The women's speed finals were a super-close event, with the winner decided by just 0.5 seconds. Following a tense semi-final run, Zhang Shaoqin won gold in a nail-biting final against South Korea’s Jeong Jimin. Zhang recorded a time of 6.32 seconds to beat Jeong’s 6.37 seconds.
In front of a jubilant home crowd, Zhang told the IFSC: “I didn’t think about anything else other than my own climbing. I wanted to enjoy my competition and enjoy the climbing."
Fellow Chinese climber Lijuan Deng also made the podium after a solid showing against America's Emma Hunt.
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