Janja Garnbret second world champion in bouldering...

Janja Garnbret second world champion in bouldering.



Janja Garnbret couldn't have started the Sport Climbing World Championships in Hachioji, Japan, any better, where she convincingly secured her second consecutive world title in bouldering and, after an exceptional season in which she won all bouldering World Cup events, once again demonstrated that she is simply unbeatable in this discipline. Jernej Kruder also qualified among the top ten boulderers, while Lučka Rakovec, Urška Repušič, and Mia Krampl placed between 12th and 17th in the world competition.







After achieving a new historic milestone this season with six consecutive bouldering victories in the World Cup, Janja Garnbret (Šaleški AO) was in a class of her own at the season's most important event and convincingly defended her world bouldering champion title, adding her fifth medal from World Championships to her collection. "Last year was really special because I won the title for the first time, this year it was a bit more tense due to my entire bouldering season, but winning at the World Championships again makes it even more special. Both titles mean a lot, a lot to me, and I'm really glad I kept a cool head and made it happen," smiled the 20-year-old Carinthian, who was a step ahead of the competition in the land of the rising sun, as she convincingly led in all rounds of the World Championships. "I always say you have to enjoy it. I know that when I'm in my own world, when I'm really having fun, that's when I climb the best. It worked for me throughout the competition, already in the qualifiers and semifinals, and in the final I really enjoyed it, gave it my all, and everything came together nicely, so I couldn't wish for a better start to the World Championships," we can only agree with the undisputed queen of bouldering, who already has her mind on the continuation of the championships: "I'd like a short break to celebrate this victory a bit, but my head is already on lead, I have to stay focused, and we'll celebrate at the end." The Japanese Akiyo Noguchi was happy with second place, and the British Shauna Coxsey with third.







In the men's semifinals, only Jernej Kruder (ŠPO PD Celje Matica) represented Slovenian colors, topping out with three zones to reach 10th place. "I'm quite satisfied with my climbing in the semifinals, especially considering I slightly strained a muscle in the isolation zone before the competition. I surprised myself positively in many moves, unfortunately not in the two most crucial ones, which cost me the final appearance. Since combined is my main focus here, I'm satisfied with the result and hope for the best possible climbing in the coming days," said the 28-year-old from Celje, who won bouldering silver at the 2014 World Championships, was the overall World Cup bouldering winner last year, and finished 8th at last year's World Championships.







"It's hard to be more satisfied, we have a world champion again! Janja was incredible, showing through all rounds that she really deserves it, that she's currently practically without competition. We're glad it went according to plan, for the rest of the team I can say it wasn't bad, but it could have been better. We wanted another finalist among the girls, we also hoped for a final for Jernej, who unfortunately had bad luck in the semifinals," drew a line under the bouldering part of the championships selector of the Slovenian sport climbing team Gorazd Hren, whose right-hand men are coaches Luka Fonda and Urh Čehovin, and physiotherapist Peter Hribar is indispensable.







In the women's competition, Slovenia had three more irons in the semifinal fire: Lučka Rakovec climbed to 12th, Urška Repušič to 15th, and Mia Krampl to 17th place. "We all secretly hoped for harder boulders than in the qualifiers, but we didn't expect them to be so hard. Some small things could be fixed and maybe I could have made the final, but it was really tough. Still, I'm satisfied and the result isn't bad for combined either," summarized Rakovec (PK FA). "It was a bit harder than I expected, but the competition is really strong. I gave it my all and I'm motivated to train even harder ahead and return next year in better shape. I'm really glad for this opportunity," looks ahead Repušič (ŠPO APD Kozjak), while Krampl (AO PD Kranj) said: "The route-setters gave us tough challenges. The boulders were really demanding, I did my best, the result is what it is, it's fine."







Vita Lukan and Anže Peharc also competed at the World Bouldering Championships, narrowly missing the semifinals with 21st place, Domen Škofic took 27th, and Gregor Vezonik 39th, after returning from last year's World Championships with bouldering bronze.







This is already the fifteenth medal for the Slovenian sport climbing team at World Championships. Janja Garnbret became world lead champion in Paris two years ago, won silver in the same discipline in Innsbruck in 2018, and became world champion in Olympic combined and bouldering, where she also won this year; last year Gregor Vezonik also climbed to bouldering bronze. Martina Čufar became the first Slovenian woman with a world lead champion title in 2001. Mina Markovič was third in combined in 2009, 2011, and 2014, world runner-up in lead in 2014, and third in lead in Paris in 2016. Maja Vidmar won bronze in lead in 2007 and 2009, while in the men's competition Jernej Kruder achieved the highest result with second place in bouldering in Munich in 2014.