The Depth of Talent on Team Japan Is Second to None
Team Japan climbers dominated yet again at the Lead World Cup in Briançon
Photo by: Jan Virt/IFSC
The final Lead World Cup before the Paris Olympics wrapped up yesterday in Briançon, France. In the men’s category, Team Japan swept the podium with Zento Murashita taking first, Satone Yoshida second, and Shion Omata third. Mei Kotake of Japan won gold in the women’s comp.
Japan is no stranger to sweeping podiums. The team took the top three spots at the men’s Boulder World Cup in Innsbruck a few weeks ago – the country’s third-ever Boulder World Cup podium sweep. At last year’s Briançon Lead World Cup, Team Japan incredibly swept the top six spots in the men’s final. Two months later at the Wujiang Lead World Cup, they swept the top four spots. At the Boulder & Lead Combined World Cup in 2022, the men swept the podium while teammate Ai Mori won gold in women’s.
There is currently no other national team on the comp circuit with the depth of talent of Team Japan. When their best climbers sit out of an event – as Tomoa Narasaki, Sorato Anraku, Ai Mori, Miho Nonaka, and others did for this comp – the team can still has a ton of talent they can rely upon. In this Briançon comp for example, six of the eight men’s finalists were from Japan. At every World Cup stop this year, Team Japan athletes have held at least two podium spots in one of the gender categories, a mind-blowing stat.
Briançon marks the first-ever gold medals for both Murashita and Kotake. “I’m very happy, this result is a bit surprising to me,” said Murashita after his win. “I was able to climb to my limit, and climb very well.” Kotake was also suprised with her gold-medal win. “I still can’t believe I have won my first gold,” she said. “It’s been a long journey for me to get on the World Cup podium. With many of the top climbers not competing, I thought it was my time to win, and I’m happy I made it.” Kotake was joined on the podium by Paris Olympian Laura Rogora of Italy in second and Austrian Mattea Pötzi in third.
Men’s Final Results
- Zento Murashita (JPN) 47+
- Satone Yoshida (JPN) 45
- Shion Omata (JPN) 42+
- Max Bertone (FRA) 42+
- Sebastian Halenke (GER) 42+
- Mototaka Ishizu (JPN) 41+
- Shuta Tanaka (JPN) 39
- Yuta Imaizumi (JPN) 38+
Women’s Final Results
- Mei Kotake (JPN) 49+
- Laura Rogora (ITA) 45
- Mattea Pötzi (AUT) 42+
- Rosa Rekar (SLO) 41+
- Jain Kim (KOR) 39+
- Aleksandra Totkova (BUL) 39+
- Natsumi Oda (JPN) 29+
- Flora Oblasser (AUT) 27+
2024 Briançon Lead World Cup Finals
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