No Ondra But Other 5.15 Climbers to Compete

The IFSC World Cup Series 2023 continues this weekend with the year’s final Boulder event and the season’s first Lead. It takes place at Kletterzentrum Innsbruck, one of the world’s biggest climbing gyms. While Adam Ondra is skipping this event, some of the world’s best sport climbers will be competing.

Of the 26 Austrian climbers registered to climb is Olympic bronze medallist Jakob Schubert, who’s climbed several 5.15s over the years up to 5.15c with Perfecto Mundo. “Obviously it feels great to be in front of a home crowd,” Schubert said. “With that also comes a bit of pressure though, so this is a competition where I want to perform. With Lead, it’s more my special discipline and the last month I have tried to focus more on that training so I’m really hoping I can climb onto the podium.”

Another notable 5.15 climber who’ll be roping up at this weekend’s competition is Seo Chaehyun, who sent La Rambla 5.15a in 2022. Chaehyun won silver at last weekend’s Brixen Boulder World Cup, but more important is that she won the overall lead title in 2022. At the Innsbruck comp last year, she finished in second. Also climbing this weekend is Alex Megos, who’s climbed over 30 5.15s over the past decade, including Bibliographie 5.15c and Fight Club 5.15b. Megos has not had a great Boulder season, placing 23rd in Prague and 47th in Brixen. However, at last year’s Lead World Cup, he finished 9th at Koper, 5th in Munich, 3rd in Briancon and 8th at Innsbruck.

From the U.S.A., two competitors have climbed 5.15, including Sean Bailey and Jesse Grupper. Bailey famously made the third ascent of Bibliographie 5.15c in 2021, and Grupper sent Jaws II back in 2018. In 2021, Bailey won three Lead World Cups. For more information on the Innsbruck World Cup, to watch and to see who’s competing from North America visit here.

Lead Highlights 2022