Janja and Anže European youth champions

Janja Garnbret and Anže Peharc European youth champions in bouldering.



At the European youth bouldering championship, which took place on 21 and 22 July 2015 in the French Argentière, the Slovenian youth national team won two gold medals. Cadet Janja Garnbret, after her June title as European champion in lead climbing, also claimed the bouldering title, while Anže Peharc celebrated victory among youth boys. The Slovenian success was complemented by six more finalists.

180 young sport climbers competed for the European youth champion title in France, including the 14-member Slovenian youth climbing team led by selector Anže Štremfelj. Eight Slovenian sport climbers competed in Wednesday's final.



Janja Garnbret (Šaleški AO) swept the competition yesterday in Argentière after her victory at the European youth lead championship in June in Edinburgh, becoming the European youth bouldering champion and also winning the gold medal in the combined standings of the European youth championship. "After the competition in Chamonix, I did some good bouldering training sessions and went to the championship in Argentière well prepared. In the final, I really enjoyed it and climbed as I know how. I'm very happy to have become European champion three times already, and I hope to continue in this style," Janja was justifiably satisfied, also the European runner-up in lead in the senior category from Chamonix just over a week ago, who will try to defend her title as world youth lead champion from last year in Arc at the beginning of September.



The Slovenian triumph was completed this year by Anže Peharc (AO PD Kranj) with a victory in the youth boys category, following last year's cadet bronze medal at the European championship. "I'm very satisfied with the competition result, especially because I finally climbed my maximum in the final. I'm also very happy that all the training sessions finally paid off. I felt excellent at the competition and I'm looking forward to the world youth championship in Arc with pleasure," said Peharc, already the world youth lead champion in 2012 in Singapore.



Tjaša Slemenšek (Šaleški AO), who took 4th place in the cadet girls category, also competed in the final; among the older girls, Lučka Rakovec (ŠPO PD Rašica), Vita Lukan (ŠPO PD Radovljica), Mia Krampl (AO PD Kranj), and Urška Repušič (ŠPO APD Kozjak Maribor) placed 4th, 5th, 7th, and 8th. In the men's competition, cadet Zan Sudar (AK Ravne) achieved 7th place. In the overall standings of the European bouldering cup, for which this competition also counted, Anže Peharc and Tjaša Slemenšek took an excellent 2nd place.



Six climbers ended their performances in the semifinals: cadet Sara Lukič (Šaleški AO) achieved 11th place, as did youth climber Julija Kruder (ŠPO PD Celje-Matica). Cadets Matic Kotar (ŠPO PD Rašica/ŠD Proteus) and Nejc Dvoršek (Šaleški AO) placed 18th and 24th, Maks Bogolin (AO PD Črnuče) achieved 20th place among older boys, and Jure Primc (ŠPO PD Radovljica) 21st among youth boys.



"After the qualifications, I was satisfied with the eight finalists. The older girls were particularly surprising, as they all qualified for the second round of the competition. In the final, I expected somewhat better climbing from them, but this time, except for Lučka Rakovec, they were not competitive with the best. It was completely different in the cadet girls category, where Janja climbed all the boulders to the top and won without problems. Tjaša Slemenšek was close to the best, but due to not climbing the first boulder, she ended up in the ungrateful 4th place. In the end, Anže Peharc provided the surprise; I knew he was well prepared, but he still somewhat surprised me by climbing all the boulders and winning the European champion title. I'm happy that we managed to repeat the successes from Edinburgh," said Anže Štremfelj after the competition, the selector of the Slovenian youth national team, which also returned from the world youth lead championship in mid-June from Edinburgh with two gold medals.