Garnbret wins gold medal also in boulders

Rain in Innsbruck prematurely ended the women's World Cup boulder competition and Janja Garnbret convincingly won the gold medal after three completed boulders. After Friday's gold medal in lead, she was the only competitor to take home two gold medals. The season also started for para-climbers at the Innsbruck event, and Gregor Selak won a bronze medal in Thursday's final.



Six-time world champion, 22-year-old Janja Garnbret, continues her march towards the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics. She repeated Friday's excellent performance in lead this evening in boulders as well. As the only competitor, she climbed all the boulders on the first try and deservedly won the gold medal. Due to heavy rain, the women's final was first temporarily suspended, and then the jury decided to cancel the fourth final boulder. Thus, the valid results for the women were after three completed boulders. Second place went to Natalia Grossman from the United States, and third to Staša Gejo from Serbia.



"I'm thrilled with the new victory. It's a shame that the weather deprived us of one boulder. But already in the semifinals, I showed that I'm really well prepared. This was my last competition before the Olympics, and I got the final confirmation that I'm in good form. The boulders in the final weren't as hard as they were a big puzzle. But I stayed calm and inspected each boulder well," said Slovenia's best climber Janja Garnbret after the competition. Innsbruck with a double win for Garnbret means really very good prospects for Tokyo.



Garnbret was the only Slovenian representative in the boulder final. The other Slovenian semifinalist Katja Debevec finished the competition in 12th place with one topped boulder, Anže Peharc ended the competition in 17th place with one top. Mia Krampl finished in 22nd place, Julija Kruder in 33rd, and Urška Repušič in 48th. Three male representatives also ended in the qualifications. Zan Lovenjak Sudar placed 21st, Gregor Vezonik 23rd, and Jernej Kruder 51st. The podium in the men's category was taken by Japanese climbers, with the win going to Jošijuki Ogata.



Head coach of the Slovenian sport climbing team Gorazd Hren will remember Innsbruck for Janja Garnbret's two top results, for the excellent performances of the competitors in the lead semifinals, but it left a slightly bitter taste that we had only three in the boulder semifinals today. "The boulder qualifications didn't go as we wanted. Fewer of them made it to the semifinals numerically. Anže and Katja were good in the semifinals, but I know they are capable of reaching the final."



The Innsbruck competition was also the last indicator of how good the Olympians Janja Garnbret and Mia Krampl are compared to the other competitors. "The result showed for Janja that she is at the top of her preparation. I'm convinced that Mia is also better prepared than she showed in the competition," Gorazd Hren concluded optimistically.



We cheer for our competitors this coming weekend as they head to the lead and speed competitions in Villars, Switzerland.


Para-climbers also started their competitive season at the beginning of the week. After a long absence, they finally refreshed the classifications for categories and some competition rules this year. The main goal of the Slovenian team, which has four members, is the world championship in the fall in Moscow. "The Innsbruck competition was preparatory and an indicator of form. Everyone showed good performances, but everyone was a bit short of a top result. However, we learn more from defeats than from victories. It encourages us that Manci Smrekar, who competes in category RP3, Matej Arh in RP2, and Tanja Glušič in category B2 were five moves or less short of the final appearance, as the competition is incredibly even. In the end, Glušič was fourth, Arh sixth, and Smrekar eighth. In the best form is Gregor Selak in category RP3, who ultimately won the bronze medal," summarized the para-climbing team head coach Jurij Ravnik.