Desak Made Rita Kusuma Dewi (right) and Veddriq Leonardo (Photo World Climbing)
It was two golds for Indonesia at the World Climbing Series Chamonix. But both were totally different stories as Desak Made Rita Kusuma Dewi won the women’s event and Veddriq Leonardo won the men’s.
Made Rita won in Chamonix taking her second successive gold after a win in Krakow last week, and she was joined by two climbers making their first visit to a World Climbing Series podium – Italy’s Guilia Randi who took silver and France’s Capucine Viglione who took bronze.
Made Rita moved steadily through the finals rounds in a competition that threw up a few surprises. Team China were eliminated in the first round of the finals, world record holder Emma Hunt was beaten in the quarter-finals, and the medal races involved three climbers who had never been onto the podium before.
Hunt was beaten by Randi who seemed destined for a medal beating climbers who on paper should have taken the wins throughout the finals. She was eventually beaten by the gold medallist Made Rita who clocked 6.22s to Randi’s 6.51s.
After her win Made Rita said: “I’m very happy. Tonight I had the best performance and just enjoyed myself. I’m happy to get this gold for my country and my team. In my mind I always say let’s do it and just get the best performance.”
Thanks to her win, Made Rita had her mind changed about the French mountain town: “I wasn’t feeling the best about the venue because of the sun in the day and I didn’t get much sleep, but tonight it has changed and now I love Chamonix.”
Winning bronze, the first medal at the level, was made a little sweeter for Viglione as she won it in front of an adoring home French crowd who gave her a little extra to beat USA’s Isis Rothfork.
Viglione won her bronze with a time of 6.41s compared to Rothfork’s 6.53s
Made Rita is on a roll of golds now, but teammate Leonardo has been plagued by injuries since capturing the gold at Paris 2024, but Chamonix was his return.
Leonardo had an outburst of emotion after a 4.86s run got him through qualification and into finals, and he continued showing that emotion all the way through right to the very end.
On his way to gold, Leonardo – a former world record holder himself – beat USA’s Sam Watson, and current record holder Zhao Yicheng. He also came up against teammate Antasyafi Robby Al Hilmi in the final race of the event.
Leonardo clocked a 4.89s for gold compared to Robby Al Hilmi’s 5.11s for silver.
After his win Leonardo said: “I feel great. I feel grateful. It’s my first gold medal after the Olympics and it’s taken a long time to get it. I want to say thank you to everyone, it means a lot.”
Talking about his injury problems lately, Leonardo said: “I haven’t climbed properly because I haven’t trained properly. I tried my best and I think this is a real achievement. I haven’t really touched a wall in training and then raced in Madrid and Krakow, and I just feel grateful for this achievement.”
Robby Al Hilmi beat Ryo Omasa in the semi-final which meant that the Japanese climber had to go up against Yicheng for the bronze medal.
Omasa stepped up his game when he needed to as Yicheng is a formidable opponent, even at this very early stage of his career. Omasa posted a personal best time of 4.70s, but so did Yicheng. It came down to the third digit on the clock – Omasa was 4.701 and Yicheng was 4.704. Omasa won the bronze.
The Speed climbers will now head to China for a double-header in Guiyang and Chongqing on the four-lane wall in September, but in Chamonix the focus is now on Lead with the semi-finals and finals for the men and women closing the event later today.
Expectations raised for lead climbers
The men were first to finish their qualification round with Austria’s Jakob Schubert standing alone at the top of the rankings as the only climber to top both quali routes.
Route 2 did see a few more tops from the men with Spain’s Alberto Ginés López, France’s Sam Avezou and Italy’s Giovanni Placci the climbers who progressed with the help of a successful finish.
There was no top for USA’s Jesse Grupper, but two solid climbs put him in fifth overall, and on course for a better finish than his previous visits to Chamonix: “Overall it’s my sixth year in Chamonix and every year I feel like it gets better and better. My expectations are pretty low and I’m having fun. I’ve definitely flubbed this comp before, maybe it’s because of the beautiful venue and just enjoying the view as opposed to actually doing the climbing.”
Talking specifically about his qualification climbs her said: “I’m just off the wall so feeling the jitters; the good jitters for sure. The first route was fun and felt a lot like rock climbing I would say – techy feet, move and twist and a cool tension I haven’t really seen that much at this level.
“The second route was a little more punchy and in your face. It was a bit more power and endurance and I like they are playing with the styles a bit more.”
Looking back on his five previous and current Chamonix Lead comps Grupper said: “It’s always stood out as one I’ve always wanted to do better in and hopefully this is the year.
“In years past mentally it was hard to have a perception of myself and hold onto it and try to get better and that made the results hurt a bit more. Now I’m coming from a place more of love and enjoyment and I think that speaks for itself in the results.”
There are climbers who regularly make semis like world champion, South Korea’s Dohyun Lee and Germany’s Yannick Flohé, and they have once again. There are also climbers like Grupper who are trying to do better at a specific venue each year. There are also climbers who reach new heights, like Chile’s Joaquin Urrutia.
Urrutia was in joint 22nd place with Slovenia’s Luka Potocar and France’s Pierre Marzullo, and all make it through to the semi-final – a first ever for the Chilean climber.
For the women, South Korea’s Sea Chaehyun and USA’s Annie Sanders share the first position after both topped both routes.
Once again, route 2 seemed to be the one to top with Chaehyun’s teammate Kim Jain and Great Britain’s Erin McNeice both making the top. Two solid route 1 climbs from both meant they moved forward into the semi-final.
There will be three French representatives in the semi-final as Manon Hily was fifth, Zélia Avezou was ninth and Ina Plassoux Djiga was 12th.
After her climb Plassoux Djiga said: “The routes were so cool. I was pretty stressed before I climbed as last year I was 25th and just outside the semi-final places, and Chamonix is home and I like this comp so I wanted to do well.”
The women took a little longer to finish their qualification round, and that meant that they caught a little bit of bad weather towards the end of the round, so much so that there was a small postponement for the last few climbers before they could complete their second climbs.
Plassoux Djiga just got in ahead of that postponement: “I didn’t know if I was going to climb or not as the weather meant we could have stopped for a bit, but I was ok with all situations.”
Safely through to the semi-final now, Plassoux Djiga said: “For the semi-final I will try to climb with my best mindset and just focus on my climb. It’s not flash which I find a bit more difficult, but it’s just another type of test for me.”
There will be 25 climbers in the women’s semi-final as there was a three-way tie for 23rd position. South Korea’s Chaeyeong, Slovenia’s Lucija Tarkus and Japan’s Hana Koike were the climbers in that position, and all will have the chance to climb again and aim for a Chamonix final spot.
