Mori and Garnbret, along with four other climbers – Natalia Grossman, Laura Rogora, Chaehyun Seo and Natsuki Tanii started strongly topping both qualification routes. For her part, Mori was out to prove that her Koper finish wasn’t a one-off result. Many wanted to see if Garnbret could return to the top of the podium having been expelled by Mori in the recent competition held at Koper.
In the women’s event, all eyes were focused on Janja Garnbret and Ai Mori. The Edinburgh International Climbing Arena (EICA) however is no stranger to hosting international events having hosted the European Lead and Speed Championships in 2019 and a World Cup event in 2017. Whilst we make no apology for leading on Toby Robert’s amazing result at Edinburgh we should also report the rest of the results perhaps?! Amazingly, the Edinburgh event only happened following some last-minute negotiations after the cancellation of the scheduled event in Wujiang, China. Roberts joins an exalted cohort of British men standing, metaphorically, alongside Jerry Moffatt, Simon Nadin, Ben Moon and Ian Vickers! Toby Roberts, in ending that long drought, has become only the fifth ever Brit to collect a World Cup Lead medal for his efforts. Given the early success that the Brits had in Lead competitions – Simon Nadin won the WC Championship in its inaugural year in 1989 – the 28-year hiatus since Vicker’s medal can only really be considered one of the most painful periods for British Men. Although McArthur took the bronze medal in the 2021 Lead World Championships his best results in World Cup Lead comps thus far have been 7 th and 8 th place finishes in Chamonix and Briancon respectively this year. Since then, and having only just transitioned into the senior events himself, Hamish McArthur has been posting solid performances in international Lead events. Will Bosi came painfully close in 2019 twice he finished in fourth place – in both Briancon and Chamonix - but despite all his efforts he has not yet made it into the top three. That Ian Vicker’s 1994 Moscow success was, sadly, the last time any British male climber medalled at a WC Lead event will not be lost on the young Toby Roberts. Vicker’s was one of the few climbers to punch through what seemed to be an almost impenetrably cordon. In the early 90s, French climbers had a virtual stranglehold on the WC medals climbers such as Francois Legrand, Francois Petit, Arnaud Petit, Francois Lombard and Jibe Tribout often shared the honours.
Remarkably, it was on 29 th April 1994 when a British climber last won a WC Lead medal with Ian Vickers standing on the podium in Moscow to be presented with a bronze medal. Still climbing in his first ever senior international year, 17-year-old Toby Roberts finally ended a 28-year hiatus for British men in World Cup Lead competitions. Roberts medal at Edinburgh ends 28-year GB men's hiatusĪfter some super strong performances all summer, and in front of an ecstatic home crowd, Toby Roberts took the bronze medal in the Edinburgh Lead World Cup last weekend!
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