Mina Markovič European vice-championess

Mina Markovič has once again become the European vice-championess in lead at the European Championships in Italy's Campitello di Fassa in her fifth consecutive final, thus winning her seventh medal at the continental championships in sport climbing, where Slovenia now has a total of 17. The Slovenian success was complemented by Janja Garnbret with fourth place and Domen Škofic with fifth place, who felt the new rule on shortened climbing time in the (semi)finals from eight to six minutes the most.



In her fifth consecutive final at the European Championships, Mina Markovič (ŠPK Plus) once again stepped onto the podium, this time for the seventh time, raising the total number of Slovenian medals at the European Championships in sport climbing to 17. The 29-year-old climber from Sežana added a new silver medal with excellent climbing to the gold from two years ago in Chamonix. "The title of European champion in Chamonix is one of the nobler achievements in my career and holds a very special place among all of them for me; this silver medal also ranks very high because the competition is really relentless, the young girls are very strong, the other competitors are also very close, and with the medal I admit I shed a tear, as I worked well all winter and really wanted it," said the delighted Slovenian record holder by number of medals from European Championships and three-time overall World Cup winner in lead, who in Italy had to concede only to Belgium's Anak Verhoeven, confirming her readiness with the new medal: "I prepared well all winter and spring and could hardly wait for the start of the season, although it was tough that it started with the European Championships. The routes were really phenomenal, already looking quite different from what we were used to, and even though they weren't tailored to me, I focused and the good training paid off." Markovič was the oldest finalist, but against strong younger competitors she excellently capitalized on her long years of experience at the top of the world and also celebrated the men's "veteran" win of Romain Desgranges: "Desgranges and I are really specimens of the old school of climbing, but as older competitors we are mainly more elastic in that we know how to adapt, as we have had to change our climbing style several times during our careers." Third place went to Austria's Jessica Pilz.



The Slovenian success was complemented by fourth place for Janja Garnbret (Šaleški AO), European vice-championess two years ago, who this year after qualifications and semifinals aimed higher, but the final shuffled the cards. "Given how I climbed, I'm satisfied with the result. In any case, I would have run out of time, but if my foot hadn't slipped at the key move, the medal wouldn't have escaped me. I'm not satisfied with the climbing, but fourth place is still okay," summed up her impressions after the competition the barely adult Carinthian girl, who last year won the title of world champion and overall World Cup winner in lead and combined. "If I look at the entire European Championship, I'm satisfied with my form, although I will improve it at future competitions. Given the amount of lead training, yet I mostly focused on boulders, my form is excellent and I can be satisfied with the achievements this weekend," she drew a line under the continental championship and rejoiced together with the best: "I'm very happy for Anak that she won, but especially happy for Mina that it came together for her and she was second, as she deserves it, and I hope she continues like this for the rest of the season."



The new six-minute time limit hit Domen Škofic (ŠPO PD Radovljica) the hardest, who reached the height of the winner but due to time expiry in the final missed out on a medal, settling for an otherwise excellent fifth place. "The placement isn't bad at all, I was very surprised by my form. The result would have been completely fine if it hadn't ended as it did, as I reached the best height of the final and in the end due to time expiry stayed in fifth place, which disappointed me a lot. If this happens twice more in such a way, I'm even thinking about ending my competitive career," was deeply disappointed the previous year's small globe winner in lead, who this year made it to the final of the European Championships for the first time in his career, but at the last two world championships the podium slipped away by a hair: "At championships it never comes together for me as I would like, although today I really climbed relaxed, showed everything I can, but unfortunately it didn't work out again." The new European champion, Frenchman Romain Desgranges, repeated his dominance from 2013, Czech Adam Ondra climbed to second place, and third was Austrian Jakob Schubert.



"I'm very happy for Mina and really wish her the silver medal. We work a lot together with her coach Urh, I wish this achievement to both of them because it means a lot to them, and at the same time it's a really good result for the national team and a nice confirmation for Mina. Domen climbed really well in the final, but too slowly, he had the winner's height, but unfortunately time overtook him. Six minutes was simply too little for this route, even the winner ran out of time, as would the runner-up. Janja made a mistake, which is simply part of climbing, so I wouldn't worry about it," assessed the Slovenian performances in the final selector Gorazd Hren, who regarding the time limit predicts that climbers and route setters will have to adapt to the new rule so that the time limit doesn't change the character of climbers too much.



At the 2017 European Championships in lead, Slovenia was represented by 11 members of the Slovenian national team in sport climbing. Rookies at major competitions Vita Lukan (ŠPO PD Radovljica) and Mia Krampl (AO PD Kranj) climbed to 13th or 15th place, semi-finalists Martin Bergant (PK Škofja Loka) and Jernej Kruder (ŠPO PD Celje Matica) finished the competition in 23rd or 27th place. In qualifications, Tjaša Kalan (AO PD Kranj) also competed, with 27th place just below the semi-final cut, Urška Repušič (ŠPO APD Kozjak) achieved 33rd, Veronika Meke (PS DPČ Šmartno) 39th, and Milan Preskar (PK Škofja Loka) 47th place.



Slovenia has been among the best at European Championships since 2002, when Martina Čufar won the first award in lead with 2nd place, followed by Natalija Gros, silver in lead in 2004, four years later winner in boulders and combined and 2nd in combined in 2010. In between, Maja Vidmar stepped onto the scene with bronze in lead in 2006 and silver two years later, when at EP Paris 2008 Mina Markovič also won her first medal and has since strung together seven: four in lead (gold 2015, silver 2013 and 2017, bronze 2008), two in combined (gold 2010, silver 2013), and one in boulders - silver in 2013. At EP 2015, Janja Garnbret also achieved silver in lead. The most successful Slovenian representative at European Championships remains Klemen Bečan in combined with 3rd place in 2008 and 2nd in 2010.