Anže Peharc sixth at Bouldering World Championships

Slovenian sport climber Anže Peharc finished sixth at the bouldering world championships. The Tržič native battled until the end in Moscow despite severely abraded skin on his finger pads and taped fingers, thus achieving his best placement at world championships. Zan Lovenjak Sudar and Lučka Rakovec also made it into the top ten boulderers.



Already in the qualifications, Anže Peharc (AO PD Kranj) was the most successful among Slovenians, demonstrating excellent form also in the bouldering semi-final, where with two tops and three zones he achieved the fifth result and thus qualified for the world championships final for the first time in his career. Despite taped fingers due to abraded skin that prevented better grip, he persistently fought on the final boulders, but the two zones achieved sufficed only for sixth place. "In the final I expected better climbing, but my skin stopped me, so I can't be satisfied with the final result, but I gave my maximum. On one hand I'm very pleased to have gone a bit beyond myself, on the other hand very disappointed because I think I was prepared for much more than I unfortunately showed in the final. My climbing in qualifications was very good, I started with fresh skin, in semi-final I still had no issues, happy that I climbed all rounds relaxed, which was my goal for this championship," summed up impressions the 24-year-old Tržič native, who in 2017 already won a bronze medal at the European bouldering championships, and in 2019 once stepped on the third podium step of the world cup in this discipline.



The world bouldering champion became Japanese Kokoro Fujii, silver was climbed by Japanese Tomoa Narasaki, bronze by Frenchman Manuel Cornu. In the semi-final, among Slovenians also performed Zan Lovenjak Sudar (AK Ravne), who with a top and four zones placed ninth achieving his best result at major competitions, Gregor Vezonik (AK Ravne), who was third at the 2018 Bouldering Worlds in Innsbruck, finished the championship 16th with three zones.



In the women's competition, the best at the bouldering championship were Lučka Rakovec (PK FA) tenth and Vita Lukan (ŠPO PD Radovljica) 15th, which is the best placement for both at Worlds in this discipline. "My climbing in the semi-final was quite solid, unfortunately I didn't manage to climb the first boulder, in the second I made a bit too many attempts, but happy that I managed to climb the last one on the first try. I'm satisfied with the placement, but since I saw how close the final was, there's a bit of a bitter taste, but also satisfied with tenth place. Still, I can hardly wait for lead," said the 20-year-old Rakovec.



Olympian and world runner-up in lead Mia Krampl (AO PD Kranj) was 23rd in speed and 29th in boulders in Moscow, Katja Debevec (PK Scena) finished the bouldering world championships 25th, Matic Kotar (PK Kamnik) 33rd, and Jernej Kruder (ŠPO PD Celje Matica) unexpectedly 57th.

The World Championships in lead climbing start tomorrow, when qualifications await ten members of the Slovenian sport climbing national team led by selector Gorazd Hren and coaches Luka Fonda and Domen Švab: Mia Krampl, Lučka Rakovec, Vita Lukan, Lana Skušek, Tjaša Slemenšek, Anže Peharc, Luka Potočar, Domen Škofic, Martin Bergant, and Milan Preskar.