Spain\u2019s Alberto Gin\u00e9s L\u00f3pez took an emotional gold in the men\u2019s Lead competition in Chamonix as USA\u2019s Annie Sanders made it three wins for the season in the women\u2019s competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite being the first Olympic champion in Climbing, Alberto Gin\u00e9s L\u00f3pez has never won a World Climbing Series, that is until now as he claimed his first Lead win in Chamonix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Gin\u00e9s L\u00f3pez finished his final climb, he was sitting on top of the standings, but he had been there many times before and not won. With his 39+ climb the photographers gathered around the Spanish climber in hope this time could be different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The two climbers that could overtake Gin\u00e9s L\u00f3pez were France\u2019s Sam Avezou who had the advantage of a very supportive home crowd, and Slovenia\u2019s Luka Potocar who had performed the best in the earlier semi-final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Avezou fell at 34. The photographers gathered even closer. Potocar closed in on Gin\u00e9s L\u00f3pez\u2019s high point but fell on 38+. The photographer\u2019s camera\u2019s flashed as the emotions flowed out from Gin\u00e9s L\u00f3pez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After his win Gin\u00e9s L\u00f3pez said: \u201cI have been looking forward to this moment for about seven years. I got my first podium in like 2019 and I have been quite close ever since then. I had some hard times after the Olympics in Tokyo [2020], and last season nearly everything was working perfectly but it wasn\u2019t happening, and I was starting to think maybe I\u2019m not meant to win. This feels so good.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Falling at 38+ did secure Potocar the silver medal ahead of Indonesia\u2019s Putra Tri Ramadani who also reached the same hold, but due to countback had the bronze medal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
South Korea\u2019s Dohyun Lee was fourth on hold 36+ with Japan\u2019s Zento Murashita fifth on hold 35+.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Avezou\u2019s 34 got him sixth position ahead of the two Japanese climbers who also had the same score. Satone Yoshida was seventh and Sorato Anraku was eighth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Annie Sanders took her third World Climbing Series Lead gold of the season with another calm and composed final climb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like Gin\u00e9s L\u00f3pez, Sanders was also the sixth climber out in the final round, and reached hold 52+ to set a new high point for Bulgaria\u2019s Aleksandra Totkova and South Korea\u2019s Chaehyun Seo to aim for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Totkova could only reach hold 48 and Seo made it to hold 47+, that meant Sanders was the gold medallist, Totkova silver and Seo the bronze medal winner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After her win Sanders said: \u201cIt was incredible. The crowd in Chamonix is always so supportive, and I feel like the routes suited me very well, flowy and then crimpy at the top.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Talking about her plan now Sanders said: \u201cGo home and rest quite a bit and then come back to Europe for Koper.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was a moment during the American\u2019s climb where she reached a move that made the climbers turn and face the massive crowd in Chamonix, and she took the opportunity to stick out her tongue to show a cheeky side: \u201cIt was kind of in the moment. I spun around and saw the crowd, and it seemed super surreal, and it lightened up the mood a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For Totkova, it was her second World Climbing Series level medal, her first also coming in Chamonix when she won bronze in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Seo\u2019s bronze was thanks to her semi-final performance as countback was a factor in splitting the climbers. Great Britain\u2019s Erin McNeice reached the same hold to finish in fourth overall, and so did Slovenia\u2019s Rosa Rekar who came out first in the final and eventually finished in fifth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Austria\u2019s Jessica Pilz was sixth on hold 44+, South Korea\u2019s Jain Kim was seventh on hold 42+ and France\u2019s own Manon Hily was eighth in her very last event of her competitive career. The French climber was given flowers on stage in front of the adoring home crowd \u2013 a send-off she will never forget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Spain\u2019s Alberto Gin\u00e9s L\u00f3pez took an emotional gold in the men\u2019s Lead competition in Chamonix as USA\u2019s Annie<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14718,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[144,102],"class_list":["post-14717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-lead","tag-sport-climbing"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t