The 2026 World Climbing Series concludes its bouldering season this weekend with the sixth and final boulder stop, moving competition for the first time to a temporary fronton installed on the baseball diamond at Smith’s Ballpark in Salt Lake City, Utah.
144 climbers representing 35 nations and territories are registered for the event, which marks the penultimate stop of the overall 2026 international calendar before the tour shifts to Santiago, Chile, for lead and speed disciplines. Course setters have prepared a total of 31 boulder problems across the competition weekend.
Three Women Chase the Overall Bouldering Crown
The women’s overall world cup standings feature a tight three-way race for the crystal globe entering the final weekend. Great Britain’s Erin McNeice leads the field with 3,740 points following a consistent run that included four consecutive podium finishes—second in Bern, a victory in Madrid, and runner-up finishes in Prague and Innsbruck—after opening her season with an 11th-place finish in Keqiao.
Australia’s Oceania Mackenzie sits second in the standings with 3,470 points, trailing McNeice by 270 points. American climber Annie Sanders holds third place with 3,300 points after winning the two preceding bouldering stops in Prague and Innsbruck. Sanders competes on familiar ground, having finished fourth in 2023 and third last year at the Utah venue, where she reported training between 40 and 50 hours per week in preparation.
The mathematical scenarios for the title depend heavily on final placement. A victory by McNeice secures the overall title outright.
Several notable competitors are absent from the Salt Lake City start list, including Janja Garnbret, who is taking a break following her victory in Koper, and Brooke Raboutou, who remains sidelined with a tailbone injury. Camilla Moroni and Futaba Ito are also not registered.
Sorato Anraku Chases a Perfect Season
In the men’s division, Sorato Anraku has already secured the overall bouldering title with a maximum 5,000 points after winning all five preceding stops in Keqiao, Bern, Madrid, Prague, and Innsbruck. Anraku arrives in Utah seeking a sixth victory to complete a perfect season, a feat previously achieved only by Janja Garnbret.
Anraku’s history at the venue includes a second-place finish in 2023 followed by victories in 2024 and 2025. A win this weekend would secure a Utah three-peat and mark his 11th career bouldering World Cup victory.
Behind the dominant Japanese leader, the battle for second place in the men’s standings involves French competitor Mejdi Schalck. South Korea’s Dohyun Lee currently occupies second place with 3,095 points, but neither Lee nor any other South Korean athletes are registered for the Salt Lake City event. Schalck, sitting with 2,587 points, needs a top-five finish to surpass Lee and claim the runner-up spot in the final standings. Hannes Van Duysen, fourth in the overall rankings, is also absent, leaving Rei Kawamata as the primary challenger near the top of the table.
Additional contenders for the podium include American climber Colin Duffy, Great Britain’s Toby Roberts and Maximillian Milne, Yufei Pan of China, Sohta Amagasa, and Austria’s Nicolai Užnik.
French Squad Deployment and Broadcast Details
The French national team fields an eleven-athlete delegation in Utah. Oriane Bertone targets fourth place in the overall standings, while Zélia Avezou returns to the site of her second-place finish in 2025. Lily Abriat, Agathe Calliet, and Lucile Saurel round out the women’s entry list.
Alongside Mejdi Schalck in the men’s events, Sam Avezou arrives with momentum after securing two fourth-place finishes this season in Prague and Innsbruck. Sam Richard, Max Bertone, Antoine Girard, and Thomas Lemagner complete the French contingent.
Due to an eight-hour time difference between Utah and France, competition sessions extend into the early morning hours for viewers in France. The women’s and men’s finals are scheduled for 3:00 AM French time. Live coverage is distributed via World Climbing’s official YouTube channel, though regional broadcasting restrictions apply in Europe, China, and parts of South and Central America, where subscription services such as Discovery+ or Eurosport Player hold regional rights.
Competition continues through Sunday evening local time before the tour concludes in South America.
Worth a look
