First Lead World Cup of 2025 Is This Weekend

The first Lead World Cup of the 2025 season begins tomorrow in Wujiang, China. The comp will see athletes from around the world compete in qualification, semi-final, and final rounds. The qualification round is taking place on Friday, the semi-finals Saturday, and the finals Sunday (local time). The event will also host a Speed World Cup competition.

In the men’s comp, there are some big names registered and confirmed for the event, including Jesse Grupper, Alberto Ginés López, Sam Avezou, Yannick Flohé, Sorato Anraku, Dohyun Lee, Sascha Lehmann, and Paris Olympic champion Toby Roberts, among others. The women’s event also looks stacked with athletes like Annie Sanders, Jessica Pilz, Erin McNeice, Laura Rogora, Chaehyun Seo, and Mia Krampl ready to compete.

Although many of the world’s best will be competing in Wujiang, a few top competitors will be missing. Brooke Raboutou and Janja Garnbret are sitting out much of the World Cup season in 2025. Natalia Grossman is out recovering from knee surgery. Ai Mori is not registered for the event, and neither are Adam Ondra, Jakob Schubert, or Alex Megos.

Several of Canada and the United States’ top athletes will be competing in China. See below for the full list of Canadian and American athletes registered and confirmed for the Wujiang Lead comp.

Canadian and American Men

• Victor Baudrand (CAN)
• Ian Tan (CAN)
• Declan Osgood (USA)
• Sergey Lakhno (USA)
• Jesse Grupper (USA)

Canadian and American Women

• Cedar Pidgeon (CAN)
• Maya Madere (USA)
• Annie Sanders (USA)
• Adriene Akiko Clark (USA)
• Ella Fisher (USA)

Livestream Schedule

The Wujiang Lead World Cup semi-finals and finals will be livestreamed on the IFSC’s Youtube channel. The livestream schedule is listed below:

Men’s and Women’s Lead semi-finals – Saturday April 26 – 3am ET
Men’s and Women’s Lead final – Sunday April 27 – 7am ET (4am PT)

We’ll be covering the results so be sure to check back in to Gripped Indoor Climbing for the latest news.