The Innsbruck World Cup sure feels like a warm-up to the World Championship in Seoul later this year. There are 329 athletes, 181 men and 148 women from 53 countries competing. 214 are competing in Boulder and 195 in Lead. Eighty athletes are competing in both.
We have athletes from India, Uganda, Honduras, Greece, Guam, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Venezuela, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Iran, Turkey, Romania, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Chinese Taipei, and Macau.
There are 120 men and 94 women competing in Boulder, so we will have 2 qualification groups. In Lead, there are 109 men and 86 women, so there will also be 2 qualification groups as well. The top 12 from each group go through to the semi-final.
We have had 5 different female winners at the 5 Boulder World Cups this year. If we have a different winner in Innsbruck, this will be the first time we have 6 different women win a World Cup in a season. There have only been 2 previous seasons where a different woman won every World Cup. These were in 2002 (3 different winners) and 2015 (5 different winners). We have had different men winning World Cups 6 times in the past: 2002, 2005, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2022.
Weather: It will mostly be hot and sunny in Innsbruck, with most days having a high of 29/33ºC. There is a thunderstorm expected on Thursday afternoon that has moved the men's semi-final to the morning.
Who to watch out for
Janja Garnbret, the GOAT (Greatest of all time), returns to compete in Innsbruck for the first time since Koper last year. She was undefeated last year and won both Boulder and Lead World Cups. She has won both golds three times since Innsbruck started hosting a joint Boulder and Lead World Cup in 2021. She has always won two gold medals in Innsbruck when she competed in both disciplines.
Jessica Pilz is also recovering from an injury early in this season and did not compete at the Austrian Lead National Championship last week. She is registered to compete, but is unlikely to because of the injury. She is joined by nine other Austrian women in Lead, including World Cup medalist and 2025 Austrian Lead Champion Mattea Pötzi.
Ai Mori is out sick, so she won’t be competing in Boulder or Lead. She is replaced by Manami Yama in Boulder. The Japanese women’s Lead team have a re-shuffle after two competitions. The Lead team for Innsbruck is Mai Kobayashi, Natsumi Hirano, Mashiro Kuzuu, Natsumi Oda, Ryu Nakagawa, and Natsuki Tanii.
Lučka Rakovec returns to compete for the first time since 2023. She was diagnosed with thyroid cancer back in 2024. She will compete in Lead alongside Garnbret, Jenny Buckley, Sara Copar, Rosa Rekar, and Mia Krampl.
Oceania Mackenzie will not be competing in Innsbruck this week, and neither will Hélène Janicot, who is also not competing after injuring her shoulder. Kyra Condie is also not competing in Innsbruck, and Helen Gillett takes her place on the USA team alongside Cloe Coscoy, Nekaia Sanders, Adriene Akiko Clark, and Annie Sanders.
Erin McNeice, Emma Edwards and Zoe Peetermans (who finished second at the European Lead Cup in Campitello di Fassa behind Laura Rogora) are registered from Great Britain. Both McNeice and Peetermans are registered for both Boulder and Lead. Edwards will compete in Boulder and Thea Cameron will also compete in Lead.
There is a strong French Boulder team with Fanny Gibert returning to competition after recovering from a broken bicep tendon in mid-January. Zélia Avezou and Agathe Calliet are also competing in Boulder. 2020 Olympian Julia Chanourdie is registered to compete in Lead after recovering from a sprained ankle. She finished third at the European Cup in Lead last weekend.
Oriane Bertone has the chance to win the series if she finishes above 5th in Boulder. If not, then Mao Nakamura can win depending on where she places. Annie Sanders can mathematically win the title, but she needs to win and have both Nakamura and Bertone finish below 10th.
Jakob Schubert will not be competing in Lead. He won his 13th National Lead Championship title last week, but is suffering from a finger injury. He announced on Wednesday that he has decided not to compete in Innsbruck and focus on recovering for the World Championship in Seoul later in the year.
Toby Roberts is the only British athlete to compete in both disciplines in Innsbruck. He is joined in Lead by Rhys Conlon, who won at the European Lead Cup in Italy last week, and Sam Butterworth. Innsbruck will be Conlon’s 3rd World Cup. In Boulder, Roberts is joined by Max Milne, Dayan Akhtar, and Jack MacDougall.
Colin Duffy will be competing in Innsbruck. He won a double gold back in 2023, but has had a tough season so far.
Meichi Narasaki replaces Tomoa Narasaki in the Japanese Boulder team. The Japanese also shuffle their Lead team. Sorato Anraku is the only Japanese athlete to compete in both Boulder and Lead this week. The men's Japanese Lead team is made up of Sorato Anraku, Neo Suzuki, Shion Omata, Zento Murashita, Masahiro Higuchi, and Satone Yoshida.
Sam Avezou returns to compete alongside Paul Jenft, Manuel Cornu, Sam Richard, Mejdi Schalck and Adrien Lemaire. Sam Avezou and Paul Jenft are also competing in Lead alongside Leo Avezou, Max Bertone, Victor Guillermin and Jules Marchaland.
Yannick Flohé is joined by Sebastian Halenke and Alexander Megos for the Lead World Cup. Sascha Lehmann, Jonas Utelli from Switzerland, and Jesse Grupper from the USA are also competing in Lead. Bern finalists Hannes Van Duysen, Yufei Pan, and Dohyun Lee are all registered to compete in both.
While Sorato Anraku has won the Boulder Series overall and Mejdi Schalck has finished 2nd, the final spot on the podium is up for grabs. Currently, Sohta Amagasa is in 3rd, but Dohyun Lee is just behind him. Amagasa won his first World Cup last year in Innsbruck.
Schedule
All times are local times (UTC+2).
Wednesday 25th June
- 09:00 – 14:30: Men’s Boulder Qualifications
- 17:00 – 21:30: Women’s Boulder Qualifications
Thursday 26th June
- 09:00 – 11:30: Men’s Boulder Semi-final (Moved due to the weather)
- 19:30 – 21:30: Men’s Boulder Final
Friday 27th June
- 13:00 – 15:30: Women’s Boulder Semi-final
- 19:30 – 21:30: Women’s Boulder Final
Saturday 28th June
- 09:00 – 15:00 - Lead Qualification
- 19:40 – 22:30 - Lead Semi-final
Sunday 29th June
- 19:40 – 20:30 - Women’s Lead Final
- 20:40 – 21:30 – Men’s Lead Final
Routesetters
Innsbruck will be a dry run for the World Championship routesetting teams. Both routesetting teams scheduled to set in Seoul are setting in Innsbruck. In Seoul, the Boulder team will add Manuel Hassler from Switzerland and the Lead team will be joined by Yann Genoux from Great Britain.
Boulder Head Routesetter: Tsukuru Hori (Japan)
Boulder Routesetters: Max Ayrton (Great Britain), Maelys Agrapart (France)
Lead Head Routesetter: Akito Matsushima (Japan)
Lead Routesetters: Ryan Sewell (USA), Jacopo Larcher (Austria)
Where to watch
Watch in the UK and Europe on Eurosport, Discovery+ and Max. The finals are hosted by TV Azteca in Mexico and Globo in Brazil. Elsewhere, you can watch on the IFSC YouTube channel. You can still watch the semi-finals on the IFSC YouTube channel in Mexico and Brazil.
