Sport climbers Jennifer Buckley and Anže Peharc were the only Slovenians to reach the semifinals of the World Cup, or now the World Series, in bouldering in Bern. Buckley finished the Swiss event on May 23 in 16th place, and Peharc the next day in 21st place.
Jennifer Buckley climbed to a high seventh place in Friday's qualifications, but did not perform well in Saturday's semifinals. She showed her best climbing in the last, fourth boulder, which she conquered on the first attempt; on the second boulder she reached the middle of the route, the zone, for a total of 34.8 points out of 100 possible in this round. Unfortunately, that was not enough for the final, so she finished the World Series event in Bern in 16th place,
"I think it is more than obvious that I am very disappointed," Buckley, who competes for Slovenia but lives in Switzerland, said after the performance. "It will probably take an hour or two to get back to a state where I will understand what I need to fix so that next time I do not repeat a performance like the one I put on today. I think my career in the coming years means more to me than anything, I do not know if that is good or bad, but I know that I will take everything I can from this competition to improve. Let us just hope for the better," the 18-year-old sport climber reported from Bern, who competed in the final and finished eighth at the season-opening event on May 2 in Keqiau, China.
Lucija Tarkuš finished only 29th in the qualifications despite four tops and a zone; the newcomers Lina Funa, who was 35th, and Neža Zajc, 46th out of 75 competitors, could be satisfied with their performances. For the first time in her career, Australian Oceania MacKenzie won ahead of silver medalist Briton Erin McNeice and bronze medalist American Annie Sanders. The top name in sport climbing, Janja Garnbret, who won two silver medals - bouldering and lead - at the season opener in China, did not compete in Switzerland. She returns to the competition caravan in Austrian Innsbruck, where lead and bouldering events will be held from June 17 to 21.
In the men's category, only Anže Peharc represented Slovenian colors in Bern; he finished Friday's qualifications in 23rd place and, with one top and one zone reached in Sunday's semifinals, ended the competition in 21st place. Japanese Sorato Anraku won, Frenchman Mejdi Schalck was second and Belgian Hannes van Duysen third. At the previous event on May 3 in Keqiau, China, Peharc finished 17th and was also the only Slovenian semifinalist in bouldering.
"Compared to the previous competition in China, I am satisfied with the semifinal; unfortunately the result will not be better, I wanted the final. I competed with a clear head and focused only on climbing. I corrected the bitter qualifications when I 'dropped out' in the middle of the competition. Today I enjoyed the climbing. I regret two boulders where I could have reached the zone and things could have turned out better. In four days a new competition awaits me and I hope the boulders will be more favorable to me in Madrid," said the 28-year-old from Tržič. The next two World Series events, as the World Cup is now called, will be held from May 28 to 31 in Madrid (bouldering) and from June 3 to 7 in Prague (bouldering, lead).
Source:
https://pzs.si/novice/18429-jenny-buckley-in-anze-peharc-najuspesnejsa-slovenca-v-bernu/