Zélia Avezou wins her first WC

Zélia Avezou, who won silver at last year’s World Cup Salt Lake City, claimed her first World Cup gold at Keqiao in China. The 22-year-old scraped into the semifinals after finishing tied for 23rd in qualification as the last climber to advance, then placed sixth in the semifinal. In the final, however, she rose to the occasion, drawing level when it mattered most and securing victory before Janja Garnbret had even started her final boulder. Across the competition, Garnbret topped 10 of the 13 boulders, while Avezou managed five but it was enough to seal a breakthrough win.

“Honestly, I’m just wondering what has happened. I think I will fully realise later maybe. I just took it one boulder at a time. I thought the boulders were pretty easy apart from the first one, and the last would be really important.

I didn’t really think about the win, I just thought that if I got ten points on the final boulder I can get in a good position. Maybe I didn’t think I could top it honestly, but it was nice to do a physical boulder for once in my life.”