The Lower Austrian celebrated her third World Cup medal in Moscow: “I wouldn't have believed Fran anymore.”
The Lower Austrian Jessica Pilz won her third world championship medal with gold in the combination in Moscow on Tuesday. Before that, she had won a lead gold and bronze combination in 2018 in Innsbruck. The renewed title was fixed after reaching the semi-final place five in the lead climb final, so it could no longer be overtaken in the combined classification. Jakob Schubert is also involved in the lead decision as second in the semi-final.
“Crazy, I wouldn't have believed that after speed and bouldering,” said Pilz. She was eliminated early in the Tokyo Olympic discipline in speed and bouldering. The athlete, who lives in Innsbruck, finished seventh at the games, in Paris 2024 the combination will “only” consist of bouldering and leading. In any case, the 24-year-old was looking for another World Cup medal in the lead after 41+ holds. “I will attack fully. It will depend on the route, who can read it best. The field is even.”
Sovereign Schubert
While Pilz was not entirely satisfied with her semi-final performance (“It was a difficult place where almost all athletes had problems. Today luck was on my side”), Schubert acted quite confidently. “The semifinals gave me confidence,” he said after his 40+ rating. But the Tyrolean still saw reserves. “I feel very strong, but I can't really play it because up on the wall it's more about technical movements and not about fitness,” said the 30-year-old. “I have to climb as well below and be a little smarter above.”
With Matthias Posch with a rating of 28 as 16th and Julia Fiser with 22 as 25th, the other two Austrians who made it into the semifinals climbed past the decisions of the top eight. In the men (final at 7:00 p.m. CEST) only the Briton Hamish MacArthur made it to the top, in the women (8:00 p.m.) a trio with Seo Chae-hyun (KOR), Natalia Grossmann (USA) and Laura Rogora (ITA).
