BURSTFrance’s Oriane Bertone won the third gold medal of her career, carrying her standout semi-final performance through to the final boulder. As the only climber to top all four boulders in the women’s semi-final, Bertone entered the 2026 season’s Boulder finale in confident form. She carried that momentum into the final, becoming the only climber of the night to top the first boulder.
Bertone led from the outset, with seven other strong finalists chasing her, including all three women vying for the series title. One of them was Great Britain’s Erin McNeice, whose performance across the final three boulders — two flashes and a flash to zone — set the benchmark at 69.7 points.
Bertone was unfazed, and she matched McNeice’s tally of two flashes and a flash to zone, added her top on the first boulder and finished with 84.6 points to claim her third gold medal at World Climbing Series level.
Bertone has come close to winning before, only to see victory slip away. Reflecting on her win, she said: “I’m speaking for all the gold medallists, all the medallists, all the finalists, and everyone that has been there this year, no one knows how much of ourselves we put in this. I’m super happy and there’s no words to describe this.”
Asked whether she knew she could top the fourth boulder to secure the win despite the pressure, Bertone said: “I don’t know. It’s hard to say. You don’t know if you will top it or not, you just know that you could top it. I read it and I knew it was my style if I climb well. I wanted to do it, and I gave it my all and I’m super proud of myself.”
Bertone took gold and McNeice silver, while Japan’s Mao Nakamura joined them on the podium with 69.6 points from two tops and two zones. Nakamura has now won two World Climbing Series medals, both in Salt Lake City — a place the Japanese climber will undoubtedly remember for a long time.
One of the women fighting for the series title was Australia’s Oce Mackenzie, who finished fourth with 54.8 points, just ahead of Japan’s Melody Sekikawa, fifth with 54.7.
Israel’s Ayala Kerem finished sixth with 54.5 points, followed by USA’s Annie Sanders — the third woman in contention for the overall title — in seventh with 54.3. Japan’s Anon Matsufuji rounded out the finalists in eighth with 39.9 points.
Erin McNeice opened the 2026 series with an 11th-place finish in Keqiao, China. A run of one gold and four silver medals followed, earning the British climber 4,545 points and the overall Boulder title for the season. Oce Mackenzie reached the podium three times, including one victory — the first of her career — to finish with 4,080 points and second place overall.
She finished ahead of third-placed Annie Sanders, who also made three podium appearances, including two gold-medal finishes. Sanders ended the season with 3,755 points.
Women’s Finals
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