Janja proves with victory that she is excellently prepared for...

Janja proves with victory that she is excellently prepared for the Olympic Games.


Slovenia's best sport climber Janja Garnbret has brilliantly started the new season of international competitions with a victory at the first World Cup event in bouldering in Meiringen, Switzerland, and demonstrated her top form. Vita Lukan and Katja Debevec also competed in the final and took fifth and sixth place. Unfortunately, there was no Slovenian representative in the men's final.



22-year-old Janja Garnbret already showed in the qualifications that she entered the new competitive season well prepared. In the qualifications, she climbed all five boulders on the first attempt. In the semifinals, she again delivered an excellent performance, climbing three boulders on the first attempt and needing two attempts for one. In the final, she was the only one to climb all four boulders and, 96 days before the Tokyo Olympics, showed that she is the main candidate for an Olympic medal.



"After 22 months of break from the last bouldering competition, being back in the competitive spirit is more than excellent. I enjoyed the competition. I had a good feeling from the very start of the event. Throughout the competitive break, I trained hard, but since I had no comparison with competitors, I didn't know how well prepared I was. I had to trust my own and my coach's judgment. Before the competition, I had some doubts. But after a successful qualification performance, the doubts dissipated, and I could enjoy the rest of the competition," said the thrilled best Slovenian sport climber Janja Garnbret, holding the gold, who also celebrated in Meiringen two years ago. Last year, the competition in Switzerland was canceled due to the coronavirus epidemic.



A great success for the Slovenian national team is also that, in addition to Janja, Vita Lukan and Katja Debevec qualified for the final. Vita took fifth place and Katja sixth. Lučka Rakovec finished 10th, Lucija Tarkuš 14th, and Mia Krampl 15th. Julija Kruder did not qualify for the semifinals and finished the competition in 35th place.



In Meiringen, alongside Janja Garnbret on the podium were also young Frenchwoman Oriane Bertone and American Natalia Grossman.



Jernej Kruder and Gregor Vezonik remained just below the final line, taking seventh and ninth place. Domen Škofic finished the competition in 10th place, Zan Lovenjak Sudar took 15th. Anže Peharc and Matic Kotar ended in the qualifications, taking 21st and 47th place. In Meiringen, as two years ago, Czech Adam Ondra won, Japanese Yoshiyuki Ogata was second, and another Japanese Tomoaki Takata third.



Gregor Vezonik was satisfied with his performance among the world's top ten climbers. "Before the competition, I had very bad feelings, as like other competitors, I had been almost two years without a competition and was wandering in the dark about how competitive I still was. But when I started climbing, the fears dissipated, and I felt good again. I really missed the competitions."



The selector and coach of the Slovenian sport climbing national team, Gorazd Hren, was also satisfied with his charges. "We handled the qualifications excellently, the vast majority of the 13-member national team advanced to the semifinals. We had three girls in the final, which is really excellent. Janja showed she is in top form and a step ahead of everyone. Vita and Katja did not climb the final best, they made some mistakes that need to be corrected. All showed they are well prepared, Janja is simply top-notch. I hoped there would be a male representative in the final too, but overall it's a good start to the new competitive season."

Sport climbers have the next World Cup event in Salt Lake City, USA, in just over a month with two bouldering competitions. The Slovenian national team will also go there; in the coming days, the selector will determine who those selected will be.