The Final World Cup of 2023 Is This Weekend – Don’t Miss It!

The last IFSC Lead World Cup of the 2023 season takes place on Saturday and Sunday in Wujiang, China

Photo by: Jan Virt/IFSC

Aaron Pardy September 21, 2023

The IFSC World Cup series makes its last stop of the season in Wujiang, China this weekend. The event features both a Lead and Speed comp. The Lead qualifiers were held Thursday evening. Speed qualifiers are being held on Friday. Speed finals and Lead semi-finals will occur on Saturday September 23. The grand finale, the Lead final event, will be held the following day, Sunday September 24.

This World Cup event will be the 394th in history, the 39th in China, and the 8th in Wujiang. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this final Lead competition will lack star power from many North American and European countries. A combination of factors has led to many athletes deciding to sit out of the event. It’s been a long and grueling season of competition, this event is all the way in China, and most importantly, many athletes are focused on training for the the continental Olympic qualification events coming up this autumn.

The United States didn’t send any athletes to the event, and Canada only sent Alannah Kip. She placed 32nd in the qualifiers, missing out on the chance to compete in the semi-finals. European standouts Jessica Pilz, Vita Lukan, Mia Krampl, and Sascha Lehmann all made it through today’s qualifying round. Other European stars such as Janja Garnbret, Adam Ondra, Oriane Bertone, Jakob Schubert, and Alex Megos are not participating in this weekend’s event.

The event is packed with talent from other parts of the world though, particularly Japan and South Korea. Japan’s Sorato Anraku and Ai Mori both placed first is today’s qualifier rounds. Team Japan had an excellent showing in both the men’s and women’s fields, earning the majority of the top spots. South Korea’s Jain Kim placed 5th in the women’s qualifier.