Olympic Champions, Garnbret and Roberts, win last Boulder Golds of 2025

• Sunday 29th June 2025

The Olympic champions, Janja Garnbret and Toby Roberts, have both finished the 2025 World Cup Boulder season with Gold medals at Innsbruck, Austria.

A firm favourite amongst World Cup competitors, Innsbruck was not only the last Boulder event of the season but also hosts the first European leg of the 2025 Lead season. As such, the Innsbruck starting line was heavily populated. Sadly, however, some competition stalwarts – such as Jakob Schubert, Tomoa Naraski and Jessy Pilz – weren’t competing because of injuries; others, such as Adam Ondra, have withdrawn from Boulder events and are taking time out to consider their options going forward. Other former 'Combined' athletes, such as Alex Megos, were back, but competing in the Lead only.

Overview

Having taken time out thus far during the 2025 comp season, Janja Garnbret was back on the mats at Innsbruck for her first competition of the year. After something of a shaky start during the qualification round, it was no surprise to see Janja rapidly re-gain her more normal comp MO, and by the time the final came around, it was business as usual for the Slovenian star. As many imagined, she might – she comfortably put space between herself and the rest of the field, adding yet another gold medal to her trophy cabinet!

Without a doubt, Innsbruck was the season’s stand-out boulder performance for Toby Roberts. Much to Toby’s chagrin, his results during the 2025 Boulder season have been disappointing when judged against his 2024 and Olympic high standards. Writing about his disappointment and how he felt on his Instagram page appears to have been instrumental for Toby, given he turned a lacklustre season around and ended with an outstanding performance in front of the Innsbruck crowd. In the face of the stiffest opposition going, and most certainly against the flow, Toby’s Innsbruck performance was back to his former highest standards. Securing his first final of the year, Toby went on to finish in the top spot, collecting his first gold of the season and his second Boulder gold of his career.

Men’s Boulder

As ever, the detail reveals an interesting narrative. Sorato Anraku and Dohyun Lee took joint honours, topping the men’s qualification round. Team GB had four athletes through to the semi-finals; however, Toby Roberts and Dayan Akhtar were in joint 5^th, Jack MacDougall was in joint 9^th, and Max Milne was in joint 13^th. Whilst Sorato Anraku and Dohyun Lee maintained their dominance in the semis, a mere 0.4 pts separated Mejdi Schalk, Sohta Amagasa and Toby Roberts in 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th. Max Milne also qualified for the finals in 6^th place, c.10 pts behind Toby.

After a brutal semi, the setters kept the pressure on the athletes for the final. No one topped M1, and only Sorato Anraku and Dohyun Lee managed M2. Something of a mini drama followed, and following an upheld appeal, Anraku had to re-climb M2 when his previous starting position was judged as incorrect.

Although it looked as though the race for the gold was between Anraku and Lee, M3 and M4 changed all that, substantially. Of the five athletes who topped M3, Toby Roberts alone got the flash. By now, only Sorato Anraku had two tops; Toby Roberts, Dohyun Lee, Hannes Van Duysen, Max Milne and Mejdi Schalck all had one each.

M4 proved to be the decider. Three competitors, Dohyun Lee, Mejdi Schalck and Nicolai Uznik, all failed to secure the zone. Anraku, Van Duysen, Milne, and Amagasa fared better and got the zone but didn’t top. The stand-out performance, however, came from Toby Roberts; in a super impressive display of strength and precision, Toby flashed the problem to join Anraku with two tops. However, Toby’s flashes on both M3 and M4 sealed his win and first gold of the season, his second ever Boulder gold. Toby Roberts ploughed every ounce of his fibre to get the result in the Innsbruck Boulder final, and he should be justly proud.

Speaking afterwards, Toby said: “I’m at a loss for words, I don’t really know what just happened. This season has been quite hard, but going into this event, I wanted to give everything, and to be honest, I’m a little bit starstruck. I’m just so happy.” Addressing his earlier 2025 results, he added: “I definitely struggled a bit post-Olympics, and when I started the season, it hit me and I started to feel quite bad. I just wanted to go out there and climb the way I know I can. This competition has been incredible, I enjoyed every moment, and to get away with a gold medal doesn’t even feel real.”

Men’s Innsbruck Results

Women’s Boulder

The women’s qualifier saw lots of flashes and high scores from Mao Nakamura and Annie Sanders, each finishing in joint first place on c.125pts; Erin McNeice finished in joint third just 0.1 pts behind the leading pair. Janja Garnbret finished in joint 5^th with two flashes and four tops.

Annie Sanders maintained her consistency in the semi’s finishing on top nearly 20 pts ahead of the trailing group. Again, Janja wasn’t at her usual best, but the two tops she secured were both flashes; she finished in 4^th, so very much still in contention.

Come the finals, however, Janja stepped it up a gear and as a result dominated the round. The only competitor to top all four blocs, Janja flashed W3 and W4 to finish on 99.3pts. Oriane Bertone battled hard but couldn’t match Janja; she ended the round in 2^nd on 69.3pts with two tops to her name. Anon Matsufi made up the podium, finishing with two tops on 59.5pts.

Garnbret’s win in the Innsbruck Boulder event secured her 47^th gold medal!  Talking about her victory afterwards, Janja said: “It feels amazing. I didn’t know how I would feel coming back, but this amazing Innsbruck crowd welcomed me back. I really enjoyed myself on the wall, had a bit of a shaky start in qualification, then it felt 100% better in the semi-final, and now I felt like my old self in the final. I really enjoyed being back.”
Janja added: “You never forget how to compete, but being back after nine months, in the middle of the season, was not the easiest thing. I had a lot of doubts: ‘Am I ready? Am I not? Am I even motivated?’ But I’m so glad I came back, I enjoyed it so much.”

Women’s Innsbruck Results

Men’s 2025 Overall Boulder

As Innsbruck is the final Boulder World Cup of the season, the overall standings and points are now decided. Sorato Anraku, having already won the 2025 Boulder Overall in Bern, finished on 5300 pts, whilst Mejdi Schalck finished in second place on 4145 pts and Sohta Amagasa in third on 3240 pts. Remarkably, it’s the third successive year that Anraku has taken the Boulder Overall title; this year alone, he’s taken home three gold medals, two silver and one bronze medals.

Of the seven Team GB athletes competing this year, Toby Roberts was highest in 12^th place on 1402 pts, Dayan Akhtar in 13^th on 1384.5 pts, Jack MacDougall in 16^th on 991.3 pts and Max Milne in 17^th on 950 pts. Further down the rankings were Hamish MacArthur in 25^th on 640 pts, Nathan Whaley in 71^st on 68 pts and Sam Butterworth in 82^nd on 43.3 pts.

Women’s 2025 Overall Boulder

The Women’s Overall results were more closely packed with Oriane Bertone in first place on 4375 pts, Mao Nakamura in second on 3480 pts and Annie Sanders in third on 3290 pts. Oriane Bertone became the first French woman since 2007 to win the Overall Boulder title; on the way, she took home one gold and three silver medals.

Three Team GB female athletes contested the 2025 season with Erin McNeice finishing in 6^th overall on 2521.5 pts, Emma Edwards in 14^th on 1375.5 pts and Zoe Peetermans in 34^th on 428.5 pts.