Janja Garnbret thrilled with a new victory in home Koper...

Janja Garnbret thrilled numerous Slovenian fans with a new victory in home Koper.

The most successful sport climber of all time, Janja Garnbret, once again proved her top preparedness in Koper this year. At the home competition, she confirmed with her performance why she is considered one of the greatest athletes in the history of sport climbing. In the men's competition, the Japanese Sorato Anraku celebrated. On the Coast, almost 7,000 fans supported the sport climbers over two competition days.

The Slovenian climbing heroine Janja Garnbret continued her winning streak and thrilled numerous fans with a new victory at the home World Cup competition in lead climbing in Koper, who supported the four Slovenian finalists with loud cheering. The Carinthian approached the top most closely with excellent climbing in the demanding route and climbed to a height of 47+. After the final, she celebrated a new victory: "I'm happy with how it was today, and I hope it will be the same in Korea." The support of home fans means a lot to her: "Here in Koper, the atmosphere is crazy, every year the atmosphere is crazy, it's becoming a standard. I don't know how many spectators there were, but it sounded and felt huge." About the routes at the home competition, she added: "The qualifications were easy, the semifinal was a bit too easy, but my climbing wasn't the best yesterday either. Today's final, honestly, I thought it would be harder to the roof, to where the overhang starts and then out of the overhang. The route surprised me by being easier, which is always better than if it surprises you by being harder than you think. Where Laura and Seo fell, that's where it started, and there you either have it or you don't. I hope it will be the same in Korea."



Second place was taken by the Korean Chaehyun Seo, who slipped at height 38+, and third by the Italian Laura Rogora, who reached height 37+. Janja Garnbret's success was complemented by three other Slovenian finalists: Lučka Rakovec, who climbed to height 28+ in the final and finished in fifth place, Rosa Rekar who finished seventh with height 26+, and Lucija Tarkuš, who finished the final in eighth place with height 13+.

About the climbing in the final, Lučka Rakovec said: "It was really nice and I felt the encouragement of the audience, that they want me to climb well together with me. I felt the fans, it was really good to climb and I'm happy that I could perform in the final. The final route was demanding, maybe a bit more classic style, which should suit me in principle, but it was quite demanding - it built up to the top." About the successful return to competitions and good results this year after last year's absence due to illness, she added: "At the beginning of the season or last year, I didn't dare even think about such results, I didn't want to think about it at all, because I just wanted to return, in any way, and I needed these encouragements for my recovery. I hope it will only go uphill. I'm very proud of myself that I succeeded, although I forget that too often. This year I haven't trained fully yet, as I could, so I'm already looking forward to the next season and hope everything will be as it should."

Rosa Rekar looked back on the path to the final after the competition: "After the qualifications, I thought I wouldn't even qualify for the semifinal, so I'm very proud that I managed to qualify for the final. The atmosphere was really great, the audience gave me additional encouragement, but I'm not completely satisfied with my climbing. I started climbing a bit nervous, which continued throughout the route. When I fell, I didn't find the optimal position that would suit me, and I ran out of strength to continue. It seems to me that I gained a lot of experience, and climbing in the final was really something unforgettable. Being in the final gives me additional motivation and confidence, so I'm already very looking forward to Seoul." Something special was added by the atmosphere: "In the isolation zone, the atmosphere was definitely different, better, we Slovenians went through the route together, we help each other and encourage each other, so the atmosphere was really great. Also, the fan atmosphere is something unforgettable, the fans really give additional encouragement and it was really great to climb in front of the home audience."

Lucija Tarkuš was satisfied with qualifying for the final and the support of the home audience: "I was really happy when I qualified for the final. It really means a lot to me that I finally performed in the final again after five years - and in front of the home audience. Today I wanted to climb better, I was scared of the route on one hand, on the other hand I still expected a slightly easier start and then I couldn't climb and made things a bit harder for myself. So I finished earlier than I wanted, but I'm really happy that I performed in the final in front of the home audience and I'm looking forward to the world championship too. At first I felt that I wouldn't be too nervous, but it's hard, because there's a large audience, everyone is cheering for you, all your people are here, family, friends and everyone who supports you, so you really want to show the best climbing. There is definitely some pressure, but positive pressure that can give you additional energy. When you see so many people supporting you, supporting climbing, it's something really beautiful."

In today's final, four members of the Slovenian national sport climbing team performed - an achievement that is even greater because it happened at the home competition in front of a crowd of Slovenian fans. Janja Garnbret, Rosa Rekar, Lučka Rakovec and Lucija Tarkuš proved with their performances that they belong to the elite eight of the World Cup. For all four, it was a special moment, as they could show their preparedness right in front of the home fans, who created an exceptional atmosphere from the stands. Selector Gorazd Hren drew the line under the World Cup competition in Koper at the end: "In the final, I'm glad that Janja always handles the pressure of the home audience so well and always treats us to incredible climbing and success. Congratulations to the other girls, I believe they could have given a bit more of themselves and climbed a bit better, but four finalists is already an exceptionally nice success." Slovenia experienced a similar milestone back in 2006 in Kranj, when there were also four Slovenian women among the finalists: Maja Vidmar (then winner), Natalija Gros (3rd place), Mina Markovič (7th place) and Lučka Franko (8th place).

In the men's competition, the Japanese Sorato Anraku celebrated, the Spaniard Alberto Ginés López rejoiced in second place, and the Briton Toby Roberts finished in third place.

Before the final act of this year's World Cup competition, three great names of Slovenian sport climbing bid farewell to the fans - Domen Škofic, Gregor Vezonik and Martin Bergant. Each of them shaped the Slovenian national team and left their mark in sport climbing. Domen Škofic, as an excellent competitor and overall winner of the 2016 World Cup, has moved the peaks of his competitive career to rock in recent years. At the end of his career, he looked back: "I have very nice memories of the competitive period, and if I could go back, I would go again, it was nice. But it's also an art to finish. Once I believed that it was good for me and I finished, I was very happy. I knew that climbing offers many more possibilities besides the competitions themselves, I was looking forward to the future." Gregor Vezonik, third at the 2018 World Championship, has written himself into the hearts of fans with his emotional experience of successes. About today's role as a spectator, he said: "I like watching competitions, I still follow all competitions, and if I can watch live, even better. When I'm here as a spectator, when I'm following friends, I'm still nervous, I have an elevated heart rate. When you compete, you depend on yourself, you're nervous because of other factors, when you watch others, you can't do anything, you follow and wait for what will happen." Martin Bergant concluded his competitive path last year in Koper, this year we already see him in the role of route setter. Before the final, he spoke about the new role: "In the new role, it's very fun, although still a bit of pressure. I think we did well. In the routes, we tried to approach 'old school' climbing, to see who is the strongest, who is the most enduring." Amid emotional applause, they received a PZS memento from the head of the PZS Sport Climbing Commission Marko Pogačar and symbolically bid farewell to the competitive path, which is turning into new chapters.

At the start of the Koper competition, 60 female and 70 male competitors from 29 countries competed this time, including a 14-member Slovenian team led by selector Gorazd Hren and national coaches Anže Štremfelj, Domen Švab and Luka Fonda. In addition to the finalists, the Slovenian colors were also represented by semifinalists Luka Potočar, who finished the competition in 19th place, and Mia Krampl, who finished the home competition as 20th, as well as Lana Gorič (37th), Gorazd Jurekovič (37th), Zala Mlakar-Starič (38th), Sara Čopar (39th), Lana Skušek (40th), Milan Preskar (45th), Samo Golob (56th) and Lovro Črep (58th).

Slovenia has already hosted a World Cup competition in lead climbing for the twenty-ninth time, which moved from Kranj to Koper four years ago. Excellent weather together with the crowd of fans once again created an unforgettable atmosphere and invaluable support for all female and male competitors.