Gripped Magazine
Olympic Champion Climber Wins First World Cup Gold
Alberto Ginés López won his first World Climbing (formerly IFSC) gold medal in the Lead competition in Chamonix, France, this past weekend. He was the first climber to win an Olympic gold medal in the sport at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics (the old format of Lead, Boulder and Speed combined). Although he has come incredibly close to taking first place countless times since then, a World Climbing gold had eluded him – until now.
It was a dramatic finale to the men’s competition. Ginés López was in first place, having achieved 39+, with only two competitors left: Sam Avezou and Luka Potočar. Avezou, climbing for his home crowd, fell at hold 34. Potočar, who placed first in the semifinal round, came extremely close to Ginés López’s high point but fell at 38+, the same hold as Indonesian climber Putra Tri Ramandi. Emotions were high – World Climbing posted some heartwarming images of Ginés López on Instagram, saying “Not a dry eye in the whole of the French Alps on Sunday night.”
“Five years separate these two photos,” said Ginés López on Instagram, describing a photo of him wearing the Olympic gold in Tokyo and another, celebrating his first World Cup gold. “Fifteen medals, none of them gold. After Tokyo, I heard and read so many times that I didn’t deserve it that I eventually started to believe it. It had been luck. The top step of the podium wasn’t where I belonged. I hated the gold medal. I felt it wasn’t mine, and I still struggle to look at it without feeling like an impostor.
“I set myself the goal of winning again to prove to everyone, and to myself, that I could do it again, that I could win again. It took me three years to feel like myself again. The results came back. They were good, my best seasons so far, but never enough. The thought that I wasn’t made to win grew stronger every time. If I had come so close so many times and had never quite made it, maybe there was a reason. Cristina made me promise that I wouldn’t let that thought take over. At least not until Los Angeles.
“Then Chamonix came. I had just made the biggest change of my life. I had been living in Slovenia for two weeks, training with my new team, but I was calm, I felt good, but specially I was happy. I hadn’t felt that good in years. And I finally found what I had been searching for all those years, the thing I had come so close to so many times. I couldn’t hold back the tears. I didn’t want to. I had done it, I didn’t have to wait any longer. Now, there is silence, the doubts are over.”
Potočar placed second overall, having achieved the best result of all climbers in the semifinals. This marks the Slovenian climber’s fourth World Cup silver in Lead, in addition to the gold medal he earned in Koper in 2022. 20-year-old Indonesian climber Ramandi has had an incredible breakout year, earning his second medal of the season. He won his first gold in Prague in June, and narrowly missed another podium when he placed fourth overall later that month in Innsbruck.
Jakob Schubert competed in the event and placed first in the qualification round, but just missed the finals as he placed 9th in the semifinals. Filip Schenk, Neo Suzuki, Colin Duffy, Yannick Flohé, and Nathaniel Coleman were among the other competitors, but none made it to the finals.
Men’s Final Lead Results
- Alberto Ginés López (ESP) 39+
- Luka Potocar (SLO) 38+
- Putra Tri Ramadani (INA) 38+
- Dohyun Lee (KOR) 36+
- Zento Murashita (JPN) 35+
- Sam Avezou (FRA) 34
- Satone Yoshida (JPN) 34
- Sorato Anraku (JPN) 34
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