Close contests and returns to winning ways created many story lines for the Para climbers at the penultimate World Climbing Para Series of the 2026 season in South Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Time was a factor in deciding some medal positions with tight competitions throughout the 17 sport classes in Gunsan. There was a return to the top step of the podium for climbers coming back form injury or coming back to form, with one country taking the lion\u2019s share of the B class medals and one climber topping out the challenging routes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
RP CLASSES<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n USA\u2019s Melissa Ruiz won her fourth women\u2019s RP1 gold of the season by a plus move ahead of Netherlands\u2019 Eva Mol. Mol qualified higher yesterday but Ruiz\u2019s score of 31+ to the Dutch climbers 31 meant they switched positions in the final. Joining the two on the podium was Spain\u2019s Marta Peche Salinero who reached hold 28+, the same score as USA\u2019s Hannah Zook, but taking the bronze due to countback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The men\u2019s RP1 was a hard-fought competition with the final order switching around from qualification. Norway\u2019s Kim Rishaug won gold moving up from second in qualification with a hold 41+ climb. Silver was won by France\u2019s Alo\u00efs Pottier who was out of the medal positions after qualification in fourth. Pottier climbed to hold 40 for silver ahead of Germany\u2019s Korbinian Franck who scored 33+ for bronze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In his third competition of the year, India\u2019s Manikandan Kumar has his gold medal in the men\u2019s RP2. Kumar climbed to hold 32+ beating Austria\u2019s Daniel Wiener in silver on hold 29 and New Zealand\u2019s Kaleb Westlake in bronze on hold 27+.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Talking about his final climb Kumar said:\u00a0\u201cI did really well. I mostly did what I planned. This atmosphere is amazing. Kudos to the Korean federation for organising such a good event for us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kumar and Weiner shared first place after qualification when the cold played a factor, speaking about that round Kumar said: \u201cIt was tricky conditions yesterday, very cold, it was hard conditions yesterday for qualification but today the conditions turned out to be very nice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n With three finalist\u2019s it was down to which medal colour each climber would receive in the women\u2019s RP2, and it was Austria\u2019s Jasmin Plank who took the brightest colour with a golden 29+ climb. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After her win Plank said:\u00a0\u201cYesterday it was so cold and my spasticity was really high so when I go to the warmup today my body is empty from yesterday, but when I started the route, I thought it looked really cool but really tough.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen I fell, I think I had to campus it a bit more, but it was enough. I\u2019d like to climb the route again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the release of the 2027 calendar still fresh in the mind, Plank gave her thoughts:\u00a0\u201cWhen I saw the calendar for next year, I was really excited to see new places. I\u2019m happy to be in LA again as that was where I got my first gold medal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Italy\u2019s Chiara Cavina won silver reaching hold 16+ and Japan\u2019s Matoi Futahashi won bronze reaching hold 15+.<\/p>\n\n\n\n USA\u2019s Nat Vorel has won three medals from three competition starts in 2026 after taking gold in the women\u2019s RP3. She won gold in Gunsan gold with a hold 46+, just a move ahead of Slovenia\u2019s Pia Purkart who won silver on hold 46. It was Brazilian bronze for Marina Dias who reached hold 40+.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Japan\u2019s Tadashi Takano just missed out on the podium in Laval last time out in fourth but moved up to take gold in Gunsan with a hold 42+ climb. Takano beat teammate Kazuhiko Yamashita who took silver on hold 42, the same score as bronze medallist Camille Caulier, with the Japanese climber taking the higher podium position against the Belgian due to qualification countback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n B CLASSES<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It was a double Japan gold in the B1 classes as Sho Aita returned to the top step in the men\u2019s competition and Hiromi Aoki won in the women\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aoki beat Italy\u2019s Nadia Bredice who took silver and Austria\u2019s Lilli Marie Laschitz who took bronze. Aoki climbed to hold 40+, Bredice to hold 37, and Laschitz to hold 33+.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aita had won gold at every competition he had entered until Laval at the last competition when he was beaten by Spain\u2019s Francisco Javier Aguilar Amoedo, but he returned to winning ways with a hold 48 climb. Aguilar Amoedo climbed to hold 33 for silver this time around and teammate Guillermo Pelegr\u00edn G\u00f3mez took bronze with hold 30.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Japan carried on the medal tally with three in the men\u2019s B2 class. With three finalists from Japan, it was down to medal colour, and it was Fumiya Hamanoue who won gold. Hamanoue climbed to hold 32+ ahead of Motohiro Ejiri with silver on hold 28+ and Kazuhiro Minowada with bronze on hold 27+.<\/p>\n\n\n\n USA and Great Britain broke the Japanese dominance in the B classes with Hassan Mohammadi winning the men\u2019s B3 and Abigail Robinson winning the women\u2019s B2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mohammadi headed a USA one-two when he climbed to hold 26 and teammate Gordon Fralick climbed to hold 25+ for silver. Switzerland\u2019s Sebastian Schmitz took bronze on hold 22+.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the only top of the finals round, Great Britain\u2019s Robinson was the standout climber taking gold in her class. USA\u2019s Seneida Biendarra took silver behind Robinson on hold 35+ while Germany\u2019s Luisa Grube took bronze on hold 32+.<\/p>\n\n\n\n AL & AU CLASSES<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n With two competitions for the men\u2019s AU class, it was the USA who celebrated the win in both. Brian Zarzeula won the AU2 and Nathan McKinley won the AU3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Zarzeula won gold by the tightest of all margins, not by holds, but by time on this occasion. Norway\u2019s Isak Ripman and Zarzeula both reached hold 31+, but the USA climber made it to that point one second quicker than the Norwegian \u2013 and this was the difference maker. It meant Ripman had to settle for the silver. Joining the two on the podium was Brazil\u2019s Eduardo Miguel Schaus who took bronze on hold 31 showing just how tight the class was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n McKinley won ahead of Japan\u2019s Nobuhiro Yasuraoka in silver and Switzerland\u2019s Dominic Geisseler in bronze. It was a clearer win for McKinley on hold 36, but silver and bronze shared hold 29+ with countback to qualification coming into play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the women\u2019s AU2, France\u2019s Solenne Piret returned from injury with a dominant performance to take gold. As the night started to close in and darkness falling, the climbers looked to have missed a hold down low which took some power out of them for later in the climb. Piret spotted it though, and it showed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Piret reached hold 49+, just one move away from the top, while USA\u2019s Maureen Beck took silver on hold 29+ and Italy\u2019s Lucia Capovilla took bronze on hold 21+.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Belgium\u2019s Frederik Leys won his first gold since 2023 in the men\u2019s AL2 climbing to hold 40. Leys climb was a few moves ahead of the other podium finishers, silver medallist Ethan Zilz of USA and bronze medallist David Kammerer of Italy. Zilz reached hold 36+ and Kammerer hold 36.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The women\u2019s AL2 was won by China\u2019s Yan Su for her first medal at her first World Climbing Series competition. It was only her second time competing after the World Championships in Seoul last year where she finished 11th<\/sup>. It was an impressive win on hold 25 as she beat seasoned climbers and medallists Sarah Larcombe of Australia who took silver on hold 24 and France\u2019s Lucie Jarrige who took bronze on hold 22+. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As is often the case, the World Climbing Para Series Gunsan competition ended with the AL1 class, and it ended once again with an Angelino Zeller gold. With three gold medals from three events, Austrian Zeller added a fourth in four when he reached hold 45+.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The silver and bronze were also separated on time with teammate Markus P\u00f6sendorfer and Belgium\u2019s Pavitra Vandenhoven reaching hold 41+. It was an Austrian one-two as P\u00f6sendorfer climbed nearly twice as quickly as Vandenhoven to take the silver and leaving the Belgian with the bronze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Para climbers will now move to Fukuoka, Japan, set to host the fifth and final stop of the series next week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Close contests and returns to winning ways created many story lines for the Para climbers at the penultimate<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17263,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[307,102],"class_list":["post-17262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-para-climbing","tag-sport-climbing"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\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\n\t\t\n\t\t