World Cup Rookie Becomes Double Champ – Wins Overall Lead and Boulder

With the final event this past weekend in Wujiang, China, the 2023 IFSC Lead World Cup is a wrap. With stops in Innsbruck, Villars, Chamonix, Briançon, Koper, and Wujiang, this year’s series saw the world’s best Lead climbers and biggest names in competitive climbing vie for gold on some amazing routes.

World Cup rookie Sorato Anraku won the overall men’s Lead season. This alone would be a huge accomplishment for the World Cup newcomer from Japan. What makes the feat even more impressive is the fact that Anraku won the overall 2023 Boulder World Cup season as well. It was a bit of a strange World Cup year, with many top athletes choosing to focus their efforts on training for the Olympic qualifiers, including the World Championships back in August. But that doesn’t take away from Anraku’s performances and victories this season. He is undeniably one of the best Lead and Boulder competitive climbers in the world – and he’s only 16 years old.

It’s hard to remember a rookie season as incredible as Anraku’s. He made the finals at every Lead event this year, earning fourth in Innsbruck, sixth in Villars, bronze in Chamonix, and gold in Briançon, Koper, and Wujiang. He also won silver at the Lead World Championships. In the Boulder World Cup this year, he won silver in Salt Lake City and gold in Innsbruck. All this success resulted in him being overall champion for both Boulder and Lead.

Anraku is the first Japanese athlete to win the overall Lead season gold since Sachi Amma back in 2013. After placing second in Innsbruck and third in Villars, Alex Megos won silver for the Lead season. Anraku’s teammate Taisei Homma earned bronze after a season of solid performances.

Leading into the Wujiang event, all Jessica Pilz had to do was place fourth or higher to win the the women’s overall title. She did just that, earning second place and securing the title of 2023 Lead World Cup season champion. She’s the first Austrian woman to claim the title since Johanna Ernst in 2009. She’s also the first competitor not named Janja Garnbret or Chaehyun Seo to win since 2015.

Pilz had a very solid Lead season, earning silver in Villars and Wujiang, bronze in Innsbruck, 4th in Chamonix, and 11th in Koper. She did not compete in Briançon. At the World Championships in Bern, she won silver in the new Combined Olympic format, earning her ticket to compete at the Paris Olympics next summer.

On the Lead season podium, Pilz was followed closely in second by Janja Garnbret, who only competed in three Lead events this year, but won gold in each. Garnbret’s teammate Vita Lukan earned bronze.

Across both the men’s and women’s top-10 Lead season rankings, Japan earned nine spots, Slovenia earned three, Austria two, South Korea two, Great Britain two, Germany one, and Switzerland one. No North American made the top 10 in men’s or women’s.

2023 Men’s Lead World Cup Top-10

1. Sorato Anraku (4300) [JPN]
2. Alex Megos (2650) [GER]
3. Taisei Homma (2455) [JPN]
4. Shion Omata (2445) [JPN]
5. Toby Roberts (2440) [GBR]
6. Satone Yoshida (2080) [JPN]
7. Yoshiyuki Ogata (2065) [JPN]
8. Sascha Lehmann (1940) [SUI]
9. Masahiro Higuchi (1720) [JPN]
10. Jakob Schubert (1690) [AUT]

2023 Women’s Lead World Cup Top-10

1. Jessica Pilz (3235) [AUT]
2. Janja Garnbret (3000) [SLO]
3. Vita Lukan (2725) [SLO]
4. Ai Mori (2610) [JPN]
5. Natsuki Tanii (2525) [JPN]
6. Jain Kim (2485) [KOR]
7. Chaehyun Seo (2430) [KOR]
8. Mia Krampl (2275) [SLO]
9. Nonoha Kume (2090) [JPN]
10. Molly Thompson-Smith (1885) [GBR]