Jain Kim, 34, Claims Her 30th Gold Medal in Chamonix Lead World Cup

This article originally appeared on Climbing

The return of South Korea's Jain Kim to the World Cup circuit has been one of the greatest stories of the 2023 season. Once thought to be retired, Kim slipped quietly back onto the scene with appearances at some Boulder World Cups in the spring. But fairly middling results--45th place at Seoul, 57th place in Prague, 59th place in Brixen, etc.--meant that her return garnered little fanfare at the time. Even later, when Kim found herself battling more in her specialty discipline (lead), her results posed some questions about whether she--at 34 years old, twice the age of many of her opponents--could still perform and possibly get on a podium at the most elite level.

But this weekend's World Cup in Chamonix, France, posed a unique opportunity for Kim. With the World Championships looming, several of the circuit's biggest stars--Slovenia's Janja Garnbret, Team USA's Brooke Raboutou and Natalia Grossman, Japan's Ai Mori--opted to skip the event. This presented Kim with arguably a clearer runway to a potential podium than ever before. However, that's not to imply that there weren't still myriad challenges posed by other competitors.

For example, in the qualification round at Chamonix, France's Manon Hily, Japan's Nonoha Kume, Austria's Jessica Pilz, and Kim's Korean teammate Chaehyun Seo rocketed to the top of the scoreboard with tops of both routes. Kim herself wasn't completely left in the dust--she topped one of the qualification routes. But it was difficult for any competitor to gain an advantage in a round that featured a total of 17 tops.

Fortunately, the tightly packed bunch separated significantly in the women's semi-final round. While many early competitors bottlenecked below the headwall, France's Helene Janicot--amid her own retirement comeback--progressed to a big sloper on the headwall to establish a high point (36). A number of other competitors weren't able to surpass Janicot's place on the wall. But Kim has always been solid on slopers, and she proved it by pulling higher than Janicot's mark to briefly claim the lead (39+). Soon that high point got bettered by every successive competitor: First Japan's Kume crimped to a score of 43+, then Austria's Pilz crimped one move higher at 44+, and South Korea's Seo fell while dynoing for the top pair of holds (at 46+). But in such gamesmanship, a stellar field of finalists emerged.

In an unfortunate production bungle, the final round was delayed for 30 minutes due to a technical incident. But when the climbing finally began, Janicot once again set the early standard; she climbed to the headwall and fell while attempting to sink into a dynamic double-gaston ("elevator door") move. Japan's Miho Nonaka was able to reach the headwall too--and neared the double-gaston--but fell one move lower than Janicot. Kim climbed next, and although her ultra-methodical style has proven problematic in the past, it aided her in statically securing that double-gaston crux on the headwall. She bested Janicot's mark and soon cruised to a new high point. Additional finalists fought hard on the headwall too but couldn't land the double-gaston. And when South Korea's Seo, climbing last, was called down after accidentally skipping a clip, the results were made official: Kim's high point remained good enough for the gold medal--her 30th from a Lead World Cup; Kume earned the silver, and Janicot earned the bronze.

Granted, it was an odd final round, bookended by the long delay at the beginning and Seo's skipped clip at the end. In fact, Kim herself seemed more concerned with consoling her teammate, Seo, than celebrating her win immediately after the proceedings. But the result was nonetheless a nice throwback for longtime fans, as Kim earned her first gold medal way back in 2009.

Roberts Rouses in Victory

The men's division saw its share of tops in the qualification round as well--28, to be exact. But Austria's Stefan Scherz provided some noteworthy separation when he successfully pulled onto the headwall in the men's semi-final round to establish a high point of 42.

As the semi-final round continued, other competitors hunted down higher holds, particularly in an upper crimpy section of the headwall: Team USA's Colin Duffy, Great Britain's Toby Roberts, and Japan's Sorato Anraku, among them.

But in the final round, the competitor to beat was France's Sam Avezou. Climbing quickly, Avezou landed the cruxy "blind" throw to a pocket on the finals' route and entered the headwall appearing fresh and untroubled. A sudden foot pop ultimately resulted in a surprising end to Avezou's strong attempt, but his score of 50 remained the high point as other competitors--South Korea's Dohyun Lee, Germany's Alex Megos, Austria's Scherz, Team USA's Duffy--fell on lower moves.

It seemed likely that Avezou's high point would stand for the entire round. Even Japan's Anraku, the leader from the semi-finals, wasn't able to work around a large volume and overtake Avezou's score. But Great Britain's Roberts, likely aided by some rests on the headwall's crimps, was able to sink into a drop-knee and reach for a new high point. He then took time to hype the crowd en route to clipping the chains at the top. The send resulted in a gold medal for Roberts (to complement the Boulder gold he won earlier this season in Brixen); Avezou, having owned the high point for much of the round in Chamonix, took home the silver, and Anraku claimed the bronze.

Indonesia Reigns Supreme

The Speed discipline was characterized by commanding early performances from the Indonesian team. For example, in the men's qualification portion, world-record holder Veddriq Leonardo surged to the top of the leaderboard with a run of 4.98 seconds--the only "sub-5" time of the entire round. American record-holder Sam Watson wasn't far behind with a time of 5.03 seconds, but another member of the Indonesian squad, Raharjati Nursamsa, had arguably the best pair of qualification runs. Nursamsa first notched a 5.08-second run, and then bettered that time by 0.04 seconds on his second qualification run.

Such consistency soon gave way to chaotic races in the men's ensuing 1/8 final: Indonesia's Leonardo, the runaway favorite to win the entire event, exited the tournament bracket following a shocking false start. Then, in the next race, France's Pierre Rebreyend fell off the wall early, thus allowing Italy's Ludovico Fossali to cruise to victory. Moments later, Kazakhstan's Rishat Khaibullin also coasted to victory as a result of a costly slip by opponent Euncheol Shin of South Korea.

The multitude of slips continued in the 1/4 round, eventually causing commentator Albert Ok to proclaim, "Every race has [featured] something kind of volatile happening!" Khaibullin's ensuing races, as illustrations, included costly slips by Team USA's John Brosler and Japan's Jun Yasukawa. It wasn't until the Big Final that Khaibullin finally found himself embroiled in a consistently smooth race, but it was worth the wait for fans. Khaibullin's opponent for this climactic showdown, Rahmad Adi Mulyono, had already bested Indonesian teammates Aspar Aspar and the aforementioned Nursamsa in the tournament bracket. Yet Khaibullin posed arguably the greatest challenge.

As expected, Khaibullin and Adi Mulyono started fast and stayed neck-and-neck for much of that Big Final race. It wasn't until the dyno to the top that Adi Mulyono was able to gain the slightest lead, and he ultimately hit the buzzer with a time of 5.01 seconds--0.03 seconds quicker than Khaibullin. As a result, Adi Mulyono was awarded the gold medal--his first ever; Khaibullin earned the silver, while Nursamsa secured the bronze in a razor-close Small Final race (separated by merely 0.001 seconds) against Japan's Yasukawa.

The Indonesian team had a more delayed rise to the top of the leaderboard in the women's division. Poland's Natalia and Aleksandra Kalucka established themselves as some of the early favorites in the qualification round, mainly anchored by a 7.72-second run from Natalia Kalucka.

Both Natalia and Aleksandra Kalucka won their opening races in the 1/8 final as well. But costly slips deeper in the tournament bracket ousted the Kalucka sisters and shifted the spotlight to other competitors and new unforgettable moments. Among them, Indonesia's Rajiah Sallsabillah out-dynoed South Korea's Jimin Jeong in one of the closest races of the evening. And France's Victoire Andrier quickly became something of the home crowd favorite as she surged to victories in races against Indonesia's Desak Made Rita Kusuma Dewi and French teammate Lison Gautron.

By the time Andrier lined up against Sallsabillah for the night's Big Final, the Chamonix crowd had worked itself into a frenzy of cheers and cell phone illumination. Despite such widespread audience support for Andrier, Indonesia's Sallsabillah had the better start and held a narrow lead in the route's lowest section. That gap extended significantly after a ruinous stumble from Andrier, and Sallsabillah eventually reached the top in 6.97 seconds to win the gold medal--her first-ever. The French crowd was a bit deflated by the result, but Andrier nonetheless finished with the silver medal. (This was 27-year-old Andrier's best World Cup result since 2018.) Indonesia's Nurul Iqamah was victorious in a rousing Small Final race for the bronze, edging out China's Shaoqin Zhang by just 0.01 seconds.

Other Thoughts and Musings

1. It was mentioned on commentary that Indonesia's Kiromal Katibin is dealing with a major elbow injury. He was listed on the Speed roster for this World Cup but did not participate. Since he's arguably the best in the world behind his compatriot Veddriq Leonardo, let's hope Katibin fully recovers in time for the World Championships, as that will be an Olympic qualifying event.

2. This was kind of a bummer of a Speed World Cup for Americans; there were several consequential stumbles from a squad that's usually incredibly smooth. Still, there were some highlights. It was cool to see Sam Watson lingering right beneath world record holder Leonardo on the men's qualification leaderboard. And John Brosler had a thrilling dyno win in the men's 1/8 final before eventually succumbing to Khaibullin. On the women's side, Emma Hunt had a great come-from-behind win against China's Di Niu before losing a close race to eventual gold medalist Sallsabillah.

3. Here's a reason for historians (like me) to geek out: The men's 1/2 Final Speed race between Nursamsa and Adi Mulyono marked the first time ever that both competitors in a race clocked times faster than five seconds. Adi Mulyono won the race with a time of 4.97 seconds, compared to Nursamsa's time of 4.98 seconds. Commentator Matt Groom said it best, albeit probably in a way that felt like salt in a wound for Nursamsa: "Imagine losing on a sub-5!"

4. I've waffled back and forth with emotions regarding Jain Kim's lead win. On the one hand, it was wonderful to see her atop a podium again. (Let's not forget that Jain Kim was nicknamed "The Queen" long before the current Queen--Janja Garnbret--was winning World Cups.) On the other hand, it was a lousy way for an event to end, with Chaehyun Seo getting called down with a score of just 22. It seemed like Jain Kim was having the same sort of vacillations in emotions. Let's just hope for smoother final results at the next lead World Cup, in Briancon.

5. Speaking of missed clips, Japan's Masahiro Higuchi was called down in the men's semi-final round with a score of 7. What was with these clips at Chamonix? Were the quickdraws hard to see or something?

6. I mentioned that some of the biggest stars were absent from the women's lead division, but the men's division had notable absences too: The Czech Republic's Adam Ondra, Switzerland's Sascha Lehmann, and Austria's Jakob Schubert. The upcoming Briancon World Cup is the last stop until the World Championships, so I'm guessing the rosters will be even more depleted there.

Results

Lead

Men

1. Toby Roberts (GBR)

2. Sam Avezou (FRA)

3. Sorato Anraku (JPN)

4. Alex Megos (GER)

5. Stefan Scherz (AUT)

6. Colin Duffy (USA)

7. Luka Potocar (SLO)

8. Dohyun Lee (KOR)

Women

1. Jain Kim (KOR)

2. Nonoha Kume (JPN)

3. Helene Janicot (FRA)

4. Jessica Pilz (AUT)

5. Miho Nonaka (JPN)

6. Mia Krampl (SLO)

7. Vita Lukan (SLO)

8. Chaehyun Seo (KOR)

Speed

Women

1. Rajiah Sallsabillah (INA)

2. Victoire Andrier (FRA)

3. Nurul Iqamah (INA)

Men

1. Rahmad Adi Mulyono (INA)

2. Rishat Khaibullin (KAZ)

3. Raharjati Nursamsa (INA)

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