Janja Garnbret closed the season in Santiago with yet another win. It was her 52nd gold across the World Cup and the World Climbing Series, and her 34th in Lead. The men's final went to Jonas Utelli, who had never even stood on a World Cup podium before.

The last stop of the 2026 season took the World Climbing Series to Chile for the first time. From 23 to 25 October, Lead and Speed climbers competed at Parque Bicentenario de Cerrillos in Santiago, with the Lead semis and finals both on Sunday.

Garnbret was in a league of her own. She was the only woman to top a route in any round, from qualification right through to the final, where she topped out once more. Laura Rogora took silver with 48+. It was the Italian's first medal since Koper 2025 and her first competition since Wujiang this year. Bronze went to Rosa Rekar with 46+, her first podium after ten finals. Lučka Rakovec matched that score but lost out on countback, so three Slovenians finished in the top four. Czech climber Tereza Širůčková came seventh.

World Climbing's official tally now stands at 34 Lead golds from 54 Lead starts, and 52 golds across all disciplines. As 8a.nu points out, Garnbret has only picked selected events in recent years, and according to 8a.nu she has finished in the top two at each of her last 36. This season she had already won in Koper. The overall Lead title still went to Annie Sanders of the USA with 4,415 points, even though she skipped Santiago. The win lifted Garnbret to second with 3,805.

Utelli had made two World Cup finals before, without a medal. In Santiago he went in fourth after the semis and reached 52, ahead of Putra Tri Ramadani (49) and Neo Suzuki (47+). The 23-year-old from Thun had already been the only man to top a route all competition, back in qualification. Alberto Ginés López slipped early in the final and finished eighth.

"I wasn't expecting to win, at all," Utelli said afterwards. "I tried to enjoy climbing, enjoy Chile. Apparently, that's the way to win your first gold medal." Suzuki took the season's Lead title with 4,820 points. Ramadani finished second overall, the first Indonesian on a Series podium outside Speed. In Speed, both golds went to China, to Lijuan Deng and Yicheng Zhao.

Sources: World Climbing, World Climbing (results), 8a.nu, SAC, World Climbing Santiago

Cover: Janja Garnbret in the women's Lead final at the European Championships in Munich. The photo is from Munich 2022, not Santiago. Photo: FancyBeaver, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.