Domen Škofic fifth at the World Championships in Lead

A day after Janja Garnbret's joy tinged with a hint of bitterness, as she became the world runner-up in lead in Innsbruck, Domen Škofic achieved fifth place on September 9th in Austrian Tyrol in the world lead climbing competition, although it looked promising for a podium spot after the semifinals. His club mate Luka Potočar climbed to 24th place at his first senior world championship.



Slovenia's ace in lead, Domen Škofic (ŠPO PD Radovljica), entered the evening final as the semifinal winner with the best possible momentum, but he couldn't capitalize on it as he wished, thus concluding the world championship—which Austrian Jakob Schubert won for the second time in his career— in fifth place. "At the start, I really enjoyed it, but it was tough climbing last, especially after the crowd went wild when Jakob reached the highest point. I threw myself off the wall because I wasn't enjoying it as much as I wanted. In the semifinals, I managed to have the crowd on my side, but this time it didn't work. A clip confused me that I couldn't place, I tried to recover, but it didn't work, and it immediately showed in my head. For that mental pressure, you have to be strong enough to withstand it; physically, I'm really well prepared, although it didn't look like it in the final. I'm disappointed, but at the same time, I still showed great climbing in the semifinals and will carry that forward into the season," summed up the 24-year-old from Radovljica, who has already stood on the third step of the World Cup podium twice this year, is currently fourth in the overall standings, and achieved fourth place in lead at the previous two world championships—in Paris 2016 and Gijón 2014: "These are good results. If I look at the last three championships, the worst is fifth place, which isn't bad, but I want more, I admit. Up to a certain point, I climbed fluidly this time, then I tried to do things too safely, but on such a competition, safety doesn't work; on such a competition, you have to give everything and risk. The world champion has to risk, otherwise he doesn't become world champion." Silver went to Czech Adam Ondra, who won the World Championship in Paris 2016, and bronze to German Alexander Megos.



The evening before, Domen's girlfriend Janja Garnbret (Šaleški AO) celebrated the silver medal in Innsbruck; the overall winner of the World Cup in lead for the last two seasons and leader in this season's standings, she also showed her top form at the most important competition of the season, but unfortunately lost the battle by seconds. Two years ago, at the age of 17, she became the second youngest world champion in history in lead at the World Championship in Paris; at 19, she had to concede defeat to Austrian Jessica Pilz due to 11 seconds slower climb to the top of the final route. Since both reached the top of both the final and semifinal routes, time decided, even though the exceptional Carinthian is the only competitor who topped all four routes in Innsbruck.



Škofic's club mate Luka Potočar (ŠPO PD Radovljica) also climbed in the men's semifinals, achieving 24th place at his first senior championship. "In qualifications, it went great, I'm very happy to have climbed on this wall at all. In the semifinals, I showed much less than I wanted, the climbing wasn't satisfactory at all. It's impossible to achieve a good result with poor climbing, and that was evident today," was disappointed the barely 16-year-old from Jesenice, youth world runner-up 2018 in lead in the junior category, and at least two years younger than his competitors in the Innsbruck World Championship semifinals, so he will have more opportunities for appearances at major competitions: "More experience will definitely accumulate, and it will show in competitions, but a few more championships and events will be needed."



"We went to the championship well prepared, but it didn't go according to plan. In the first part, we really expected a bit more. Janja's result is excellent, it's a shame she couldn't show a fair fight to the end. Domen also showed in the semifinals that he is well prepared, but in the final, it didn't work out, and he ended his performance much too early. If I look at all the performances, we had quite a bit of bad luck; other coaches come to me too, somehow they feel that it didn't go entirely according to plan. Those who made it to the semifinals and final showed very good form. For the boys, we counted on one more semifinal qualification, for the girls, we had quite a bit of bad luck both in qualifications and with Lučka in the semifinals. The girls really showed much more than the final results indicate. I won't hide my disappointment; the first part unfortunately didn't go according to our plans," assessed the opening part of the championship dedicated to lead climbing, selector of the Slovenian national team in sport climbing Gorazd Hren.



In Innsbruck, ten more represented Slovenian colors in lead. Finalist Mia Krampl (AO PD Kranj) climbed to seventh place at her first senior championship, while semifinalist Lučka Rakovec (ŠD Proteus) missed the final due to touching a hold, thus concluding the World Championship in 22nd place. Katja Kadić (PK Škofja Loka), Vita Lukan (ŠPO PD Radovljica), and Martin Bergant (PK Škofja Loka) remained just below the semifinal cutoff at 27th place, Tjaša Kalan (AO PD Kranj) finished the Innsbruck championship in 29th place, Urška Repušič (ŠPO PD Kozjak) was 34th, Jernej Kruder (ŠPO PD Celje Matica) 35th, Mina Markovič (ŠPK Plus), bronze in lead at the 2016 Paris World Championship and silver at the 2014 Gijón World Championship, finished 43rd, and Milan Preskar (PK Kamnik) 49th.



The World Championship continues on Tuesday after a one-day break with boulder and paraclimbing qualifications.