Only when the Men B1 finalists stepped up to the Finals wall did the crowd hush, out of respect for thecommunication between Athletes and their coaches who direct from the ground. Mathieu Barbe of France was the first Athlete to Top and placed second, but

Sho Aita of Japan donned Gold after pausing to solve the final move. Korbinian Franck and Nils Helsper won two medals for Germany in RP1, and Nive Porat earned Gold for Israel as the only Man to Top in the RP2 category. In RP3, teammates Romain Pagnoux and Mathieu Besnard finished first and second and brought home more hardware for France.

For the Women, eight countries were represented on the podiums. From Belgium, Elodie Orbaen defended her place atop the RP3 category in the final round.

When both Athletes were tied after three rounds, Maureen Beck of the USA edged Melinda Vígh of Hungary in AU-2 by climbing the Finals route in less time. Three French woman wore medals, including Luci Jarrige, who remained unbeaten all week in AL-2.

All finalists offered a spectacular show and very emotional awards ceremony to a packed audience!

Speed: 101 Starters, 32 Finalists
Reigning world champion Danyil Boldyrev of Ukraine energized the crowd by scaling fifteen meters in six seconds, but the Speed World Record holder’s time atop the results was short-lived. Reza Alipourshenazandifar of Iran, Bronze medallist at the 2014 IFSC World Championships, posted a time of 5.96 in his second heat. Not far behind them was Libor Hroza of the Czech Republic, runner-up at the IFSC World Championships in Paris four years ago. Anna Tsyganova placed 31st at that competition, but the Russian is on pace for a better placement this year. Her time of 7.88 in Qualifications bested 45 of the fastest Speed Athletes in the world. Also racing was Anouck Jaubert of France, winner of the three most recent IFSC Speed World Cups, and Speed World Record holder Iuliia Kaplina of Russia.

Men Bouldering: French Steal the Show
Two Tops earned a ticket to Finals, and three Frenchmen will be making the journey: Jeremy Bonder, Manuel Cornu and Mickael Mawem, who received plenty of support from the Paris crowd. The other story of the night was Tomoa Narasaki’s bid for Finals. The 2016 Bouldering World Cup champion kept the crowd on the edge of their seats, keeping his balance on the fourth and final Semi-Finals problem long enough to sneak past Alexey Rubtsov of Russia by bonus hold attempts.

Women Lead: Slovenia the Team to Beat
The six Women who topped all four Lead Qualifications routes on Wednesday advanced to Finals. Seventeen-year-old Janja Garnbretset the high point, slipping off the penultimate Semi-Finals hold. Her Slovenian teammate, Mina Markovic, fell one hold lower on the top panel. Jain Kim of Korea also increased the volume in the AccorHotels Arena and finished third.

LIVE Streaming:

Paraclimbing Finals – Men B1 @ 19:00 (GMT+2)

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnbNZQze34w]

Speed Finals – Men @ 20:15 (GMT+2)

Full results can be found on the dedicated Climbing and Paraclimbing event pages.

Feature Image Courtesy of International Federation of Sport Climbing.