Anže Peharc claims silver in USA for career-best result

Slovenian sport climber Anže Peharc took second place on May 30 (Central European Time) at the fourth round of the 2022 Bouldering World Cup in Salt Lake City, thus achieving the best result of his career. After the semi-final where he was third, in the final he had to concede superiority only to Japanese Yoshiyuki Ogata due to a better position from the semi-final. Slovenian Gregor Vezonik also competed in the semi-final.

Anže Peharc (AO PD Kranj) has been stepping up his form from competition to competition this season - a week ago he climbed to eighth place in Salt Lake City, today he stepped onto the World Cup bouldering podium for the second time in his career. At the American competition venue, after qualifications he shared 13th place with national team colleague Gregor Vezonik, in the semi-final with all four tops secured he took third starting position, in the final he again topped all four boulders in five attempts, just like the winner Japanese Yoshiyuki Ogata, but the victory was decided by the better semi-final position. Third was also Japanese Kokoro Fujii.

The 24-year-old from Tržič achieved the best result of his career with this bouldering silver at the World Cup event and thus climbed one step higher, as in 2019 he had already won a bronze medal in bouldering at the World Cup. In 2017 he also celebrated bronze at the European Championships in bouldering, while last year at the World Championships he took sixth place.

In the USA, under the leadership of selector Gorazd Hren and coach Luka Fonda, three more members of the Slovenian sport climbing national team competed. Gregor Vezonik (PK Kamnik) placed 17th, Katja Debevec (PK Scena) 23rd, and Zan Lovenjak Sudar (PK Scena) 25th. In the women's competition, American Natalia Grossman won for the third time in a row this season, after sweeping the competition at the first World Cup bouldering event of the year in April in Meiringen, where Olympic champion Janja Garnbret (Šaleški AO) competed.

The Bouldering World Cup moves to Europe, where the next challenge will be from June 10 to 12 in Italian Brixen, and between June 22 and 26 in Austrian Innsbruck there will also be the start of the Lead World Cup season. The highlight of this season will be the European Championships in August in Munich.