Kai Lightner and Ashima Shiraishi Win USA Open Lead

The USA Open Lead Championships were this weekend and Kai Lightner and Ashima Shiraishi finished on top of the Male and Female podiums. Margo Hayes is fresh off her impressive send of La Rambla 5.15a and finished in second. Full results including Speed here.

Shiraishi and Lightner have been two of America’s top climber for the past few years. Watch a short film about the two crushers below, and full Open Results and photos from this weekend’s championships.

Finals Results Female/Male
1. Ashima Shiraishi / Kai Lightner
2. Margo Hayes / Jesse Grupper
3. Brooke Raboutou / Drew Ruana
4. Kyra Condie / Noah Ridge
5. Michaela Kiersch / Shane Messer
6. Claire Buhrfeind / Bobby Taft-Pittman
7. Julia Talbot / Vasaya Vorontnikov
8. Melina Costanza / (7) Josh Levin
9. (8) Natalia Grossman / Austin Geiman
10. Meagan Martin / Solomon Barth
11. Juliet Hammer / Joey Catama

Enjoy these highlights from the Sport Qualification Round at Open Nationals! Sport Semifinals kick off today at 10am MST. Join us at @movementdenver or tune in online by visiting usaclimbing.org #usacsportspeed #usacnationals #lt11 ?: @timgoutside

A post shared by USA Climbing (@usaclimbing) on Mar 11, 2017 at 8:04am PST

2017 Open Lead National Champion! SOOO PSYCHED ? The icing on the cake was having my coach @shanemesser earn a spot on the US Team along with my buddies @drewruana, @bobby_the_climber, @noahridge and @yayjesse_g! Special thanks to the volunteers and the loudest audience ever, whose energy kept me motivated to top my finals route. Also, HUGE thanks to the routesetters for staying up late nights in order to give us challenging yet fun routes to climb. Congrats to my fellow @evolvusa and @clifbar teammate @ashimashiraishi for winning the womens division, and @margojain & @brookeclimbs for completing the womens podium! Photo by @matthewhulet #usacsportspeed @adidasterrex @bluewaterropes

A post shared by Kai Lightner (@kailightner) on Mar 12, 2017 at 7:23am PDT

I am overwhelmed by the fact that I was able to have a "perfect performance" at my first SCS Open Nationals by flashing/onsighting all of my routes? It is an honor to hold this title and to have competed against some of the world's most talented climbers such as @margojain and @brookeclimbs . I am looking forward to compete in a few World Cups this summer? ❤Thanks for cheering me on❤ ?: @c.los_ant_tunez

A post shared by Ashima | 阿島 (@ashimashiraishi) on Mar 12, 2017 at 6:57am PDT