Ice climber Janez Svoljšak with silver

Ice climber Janez Svoljšak with silver in the World Cup to career success.

Janez Svoljšak, for several years the most successful Slovenian competitor in ice climbing, achieved his greatest career success and the first medal for Slovenian ice climbing in senior competition after seven years with an excellent second place at the third World Cup event on January 23, 2016, in Saas Fee, Switzerland; in 2014, the now 22-year-old from Kranj also became the world youth champion.



Janez Svoljšak (AO PD Kranj), a member of the Slovenian national team in competitive ice climbing, is steadily increasing his readiness from competition to competition this season and at the third stop of the World Cup, he stepped onto the podium for winners for the first time. He started the 2016 World Cup promisingly last December with seventh place in Bozeman, USA, finished the second event on January 17 in South Korea in sixth place, and at the third World Cup event in Swiss Saas Fee last Saturday, he celebrated second place and with it the most important achievement of his competitive career. After successful qualifications and semifinals, he also showed in the final that he is in top form, and in the difficulty among 61 competitors, he climbed to the silver medal.



"The well-organized competition in Saas Fee offered technically demanding routes on challenging rock holds and large ice blocks. The qualifications were conducted in two groups due to the faster execution of the competition. With good and fast climbing, I climbed the route to the top in my qualification group and took first place. In the semifinals, I had minor problems on a long move from ice to a difficult hold, but after a few attempts, I managed the move and climbed almost to the top. I qualified in fourth place. Finally, I carried the good climbing from qualifications and semifinals into the final as well and with good climbing achieved a podium placement. I am very satisfied with the climbing in the final because I gave it my all, and in the end, I was surprised that the winner only got one move higher," recounted Janez Svoljšak about the competition, who had to admit defeat only to the winner, Russian Maksim Tomilov, while Swiss Yannick Glatthard took third place. Official results are published on the UIAA website (International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation).



"Janez's success was certainly not unexpected, as it was already clear from previous competitions that with his systematic training and mindset of a top athlete, it was only a matter of time before he would reach the podium, and we can certainly expect that in the next season, a placement among the top three, if not even a World Cup win, will be more the rule than the exception," assessed Nejc Šter, the selector of the Slovenian national team in competitive ice climbing, and added: "His placement is all the more important because we can expect greater interest from young people in this sport, which is also the only true motivation for all of us to continue our work."



Among Svoljšak's past achievements, special attention deserves the victory at the 2014 World Youth Championships, third place at the 2013 World Youth Championships, first place at the 2013 Open North American Championships, and seventh place in the 2014 World Cup overall standings. Svoljšak is currently third in the 2016 World Cup difficulty overall standings, which is an excellent foundation for the next competition in Italian Rabenstein, which counts as both the World Cup and the European Championships, and awaits the ice climbing caravan from January 29 to 31.



His success is also pleasing for Slovenian ice climbing, where seven years have passed since the last medal of our competitors in senior competition. In 2009, Matevž Vukotič achieved second place in the World Cup in speed discipline and the year before won an individual event and won the World Cup. In 2000, Erik Švab won bronze at a World Cup event in difficulty, the year before Aljaž Anderle silver at a World Cup event in bouldering, and in 1997, Janez Jeglič - Johan won both speed and difficulty at the unofficial world championships.



Svoljšak, also a member of the Slovenian youth alpine national team (SMAR) and the most promising alpinist of 2014, is also raising his level and readiness in alpinism year by year.