Janja Garnbret second, Mina Markovič eighth

In a tense final of the World Cup lead competition, Slovenian sport climbing heroine Janja Garnbret earned a silver medal, while South Korean Jain Kim celebrated victory for the third time. The other Slovenian finalist Mina Markovič finished eighth in her fourteenth consecutive World Cup final in Kranj. In the men's competition, Italian Stefano Ghisolfi won for the first time at the Kranj event, and Slovenian contender Domen Škofic climbed to third overall in the World Cup lead standings with 12th place.



For 23 years, all paths of the best sport climbers have led to the capital of Gorenjska, where 108 competitors competed in the fifth World Cup event of 2018 in sport climbing, organized by the Alpine Association of Slovenia under the auspices of the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC). In addition to excellent performances by our representatives, the event was marked by the accompanying program: children's workshops and mini Olympics, introduction to paraplegic climbing and the Slovenian paraplegic climbing team, strong finger competition, and climbing films from the Mountain Film Festival, with an acrobatic spectacle taking the audience's breath away at the opening.



Slovenian champion Janja Garnbret (Šaleški AO), currently leading the overall World Cup lead standings and world runner-up in the discipline, added silver to her collection of medals from Kranj, where she won last year and was twice third before. "It would be a shame to worry because I was second. People are used to me winning all the time, but second place is great too. I was very happy with the hard routes, that's what I wanted and that's what I got. I'd rather be second this way than at the world championships. I really liked this lead. But I'm most happy that I've been first or second in all competitions this year, which shows I'm consistent in both bouldering and lead. The difference from previous years is that this year I really climbed without pressure. I entered excited about the route, with the desire to climb it, it was really fun to climb in front of the home crowd, I really enjoyed it. It didn't end the way I wanted, my hand slipped a bit, but I'm still satisfied with second place," said the smiling 19-year-old from Koroška, three-time world champion, who is aiming for a third consecutive overall World Cup lead victory: "I'm doing well in the World Cup to add another overall win, but we'll see how it ends. I'm satisfied with the world bouldering champion title, that was my main goal this season."



Garnbret had to concede defeat to South Korean Jain Kim, simply unbeatable in Kranj, who won here in 2010 and 2011, and this year experienced her third victory in Slovenia with tears in her eyes. Third was Austrian Hannah Schubert, who climbed onto the podium for the first time in her career. The Kranj competition wouldn't be the same without Mina Markovič (ŠPK Plus), who performed in front of the home fans for the fifteenth time in a row, one less final appearance, and has won four times so far. "If I think that this is the fourteenth consecutive final, I don't know many sports or athletes where this happens often. The Kranj competition is always something special, on one hand it's always a bit harder for me to climb in Kranj, but at the same time it's additional motivation to really try for myself and all the support from the audience - and try to get the most out of myself," believes the 29-year-old climber from Sežana, who earned eighth place this time after falling on a jump in the middle of the final route, which was too demanding for three finalists: "I'm disappointed with the final performance, as I wanted a better show, but the detail was perhaps too much for me. I approached the jump decisively, but unfortunately missed the hold a bit. Even if I wanted to hold on and continue the route, because I was well prepared, unfortunately it didn't work, because a missed hold is a missed hold."



Stefano Ghisolfi celebrated victory in the men's competition with the only top of the final route, the second Italian on the top step of the World Cup in Kranj. Second was the current world lead champion Austrian Jakob Schubert, who fell from the top, third Japanese Masahiro Higuchi. After leading the qualifications, Slovenian contender Domen Škofic (ŠPO PD Radovljica) had a failed semifinal, finishing the competition in twelfth place, after being in the top five in the last four Kranj events, second highest two years ago. "In qualifications I climbed excellently and went into semifinals with those feelings. I was relaxed, but somehow I didn't find myself in the middle of the route. I made small mistakes that cost me energy for the key part of the route. It's a shame I didn't make the final to enjoy the final route in front of the home crowd," said the 24-year-old from Radovljica, who despite his worst placement this year climbed to third in the overall World Cup lead standings.



"In Kranj I missed a finalist among the guys, unfortunately it's not always as we'd like. The women's final route was good, hard enough. Shame for Mina that she got stuck on the jump, which is harder to do in the middle of the route than in training. Janja climbed well, maybe in the last part she went too lightly into that move. I'm happy with second place, it's still a good result. With a bit of luck among the younger competitors we would have had another finalist, I believe it will happen sooner or later. So we go to the last two events in China with a good feeling," drew a line under the Kranj test selector of the Slovenian team Gorazd Hren, whose right hands are coaches Luka Fonda and Urh Čehovin.



In semifinals, a number of Slovenian sport climbers also shone. Mia Krampl was tenth, Tjaša Kalan 12th, Lana Skušek 14th, Katja Kadić 19th, Vita Lukan 20th, and Lučka Rakovec 24th. The Slovenian sport climbing team was also represented by seven others: Tjaša Slemenšek (30th), Martin Bergant (33rd), Urška Repušič (34th), Klemen Novak (35th), Milan Preskar (37th), Žiga Zajc (42nd), and Luka Potočar (43rd).



"Organizing the Kranj competition is a big undertaking. Coordination, including the accompanying program, went excellently this year, technically everything worked, so it wasn't as stressful as before. I always say that many factors are important for a competition. We can all do everything brilliantly, but if there are no fans, the competition sucks. At the beginning I was worried because it's in September, but when our competitors dominated previous events, I knew all fans would be in Kranj. The men's route was ideal, with attractive moves, the route setters did it great. The women's was fine too, I just feel sorry for the three girls who fell on the jump. But South Korean Jain Kim was really the best this weekend. If I draw a line, I think it was very good," was justifiably satisfied also Tomo Česen, for 23 years the head of the World Cup lead climbing event in Kranj.