Janja Garnbret world champion in bouldering

After becoming world runner-up in lead in Innsbruck, Slovenian sport climbing heroine Janja Garnbret won the coveted world boulder crown on September 14. With excellent results in both disciplines and a solid performance in speed, the 19-year-old Carinthian earned a ticket to the inaugural Olympic combined event scheduled for Sunday, while also making history as the first woman to boast world champion titles in both disciplines, having won lead two years ago in Paris.



Janja Garnbret (Šaleški AO), whose second consecutive world lead title slipped away by eleven seconds on September 8, climbed to the world boulder medal just over a week later, thus fulfilling her dreams: "My goals went step by step. First I wanted to become world champion in lead, when I succeeded, I wanted to become it in bouldering too. I was really focused and really wanted this victory because I knew it was achievable. After lead, I wasn't so disappointed with the result as with what happened, but I waited for boulders, which I had targeted all year and trained hard for. This was my lifetime goal, which I've now achieved. Really incredible." Dominant already in qualifiers and semifinals, the 19-year-old Carinthian showed at her first world boulder championships in the very demanding final that she is in a class of her own, set aside her shoulder injury, and secured victory before the last boulder problem. "I already knew I had won earlier, but I told myself I would really try to climb the last boulder, but it didn't work because I had in my head all the time that I am world champion and don't need more than that. I don't know if I've ever been so emotional in front of the audience, it was really an incredible moment," shone the new world boulder champion, who due to her matura had a truncated boulder World Cup this year with two wins and one second place (out of seven events) finishing fourth overall, last year second. Silver was celebrated by Japanese Akiyo Noguchi, third at the last two world championships, bronze by boulder European champion Staša Gejo from Serbia.



Garnbret earned a spot in the final of the combined event of all three disciplines with exceptional results in bouldering and lead and 47th place in speed - with a time of 10.624 seconds she set her personal record - which will be held in Austria for the first time in Olympic format. On Sunday, the top six by product of placements in all three disciplines will compete for the icing on the cake of the sport climbing world championships, as the competition will also take place at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. "Lead and boulders were my advantage, combined is not my main goal, but I see that I can compete for the gold Olympic medal. My current first place in combined means a lot to me and is a good indicator for the Olympics, of course it will be interesting to see the competition in this format on Sunday too. My goal to reach the top six climbers was achieved, now I can just enjoy," smiled one of the world's most versatile climbers, who made history as the first woman to win both boulder and lead titles, which she achieved as the second youngest world champion in history two years ago in Paris: "It hasn't sunk in yet that at 19 I am already world champion for the second time, I think it will come later and only in a few days will I realize what I've achieved. This is really an incredible achievement that I will always keep in my heart."



"Our goal was to bring home one main award. In lead, despite being excellent, not everything went according to plan, but in bouldering Janja put things in place already in qualifiers and semifinals and in the final once again proved that if things are hard enough, she is the best in the world," was proud Gorazd Hren, Janja's coach and head of the Slovenian sport climbing team, whose right hands are coaches Luka Fonda and Urh Čehovin, while physiotherapist Peter Hribar also played an important role.



In the semifinals, Katja Kadić (PK Škofja Loka) also gave her all, earning 12th place at her first world championships. "I didn't feel the best on the wall, but for my first world championships, 12th place is quite solid. Of course I wanted more, but I have to wait - fortunately there will be an opportunity next year," summed up the 23-year-old from Ljubljana, fifth this year in the overall boulder World Cup standings, who competed in all three disciplines in Innsbruck.



Today the men's boulder (semi)finals await, with Slovenian entrants Jernej Kruder (ŠPO PD Celje Matica), leading after qualifiers, and Gregor Vezonik (AK Ravne) with 11th qualifier result entering it.



At the world boulder championships, Slovenian colors were also represented by Mia Krampl (AO PD Kranj) in 33rd place, Mina Markovič (ŠPK Plus) in 37th, Urška Repušič (ŠPO APD Kozjak) and Domen Škofic (ŠPO PD Radovljica) in 39th, Vita Lukan (ŠPO PD Radovljica) 51st, Anže Peharc (AO PD Kranj) 53rd, Tjaša Slemenšek (Šaleški AO) 63rd, Zan Sudar (AK Ravne) 68th, and Luka Potočar (ŠPO PD Radovljica) 81st.