Mina Markovič silver and bronze

Mina Markovič world runner-up in lead and bronze in combined, historic success with three finalists complemented by Škofic and Vidmar

For Slovenian sport climbers, this is the second part of this year's World Championships, one of the most successful for them. After the August bouldering opener in Munich, where Jernej Kruder won the first medal at a bouldering World Championship, the Slovenian national team returns from the World Championships in lead and speed in Spanish Gijón with two medals by Mina Markovič, who became world runner-up in lead and thus also won bronze in combined. The historic success with a trio of finalists was complemented by Domen Škofic with 4th place, by far the best Slovenian result in men's competition at World Championships, and Maja Vidmar with an equally excellent 5th place. At the World Championships in Gijón, which took place from 8 to 14 September, Slovenian colors were also represented by Urban Primožič.

Mina Markovič second, Maja Vidmar fifth in lead

Markovič and Vidmar succeeded with a flawless Friday qualification performance in lead climbing, sharing first place with four other competitors. The harder setup of the semi-final route prevented a similar success as in qualifications, but both Slovenian climbers qualified for the final part of the competition, which was thereby even more tense for Slovenian spectators. Maja Vidmar delivered a very solid performance, but fell after 36 moves, which sufficed for final 5th place. Mina Markovič reached much higher with excellent climbing and fell at the same spot as the eventually third-placed Magdalena Röck, but the result of the semi-final performance was on her side this time, so she could celebrate the silver medal in lead, which also brought her bronze in combined. With a truly flawless performance, Korean Jain Kim thrilled, as the only climber in this final to reach the top of the route and thus the win.

Domen Škofic in lead just off the podium

Sunday's final of the Gijón World Championships in lead provided an interesting battle of the world's best climbers. Domen Škofic, youth champion of the 2012 European Cup, earned a final appearance with sixth place in semis, where he achieved an excellent 4th place, the best Slovenian placement in men's competition at World Championships. Škofic climbed excellently, but due to falling just a few moves below the top, he narrowly missed podium placement. With the third-placed Japanese Sachiji Ammo, he achieved the same result in the final, but the Japanese had a better semi-final result, which brought him the bronze medal. The excellent Adam Ondra this year won, but the route was too hard even for him this time. He secured victory with a higher climbed height than the second-placed Spaniard Ramón Julián Puigblanque. Thus, Ondra succeeded in a historic achievement – winning the World Championship in bouldering and in lead climbing in the same year. Urban Primožič with 14th place in semis did not break through to the top eight in the final.

STATEMENT by Roman Krajnik, selector of the senior sport climbing team

"Behind us is the second part of this year's World Championship, after bouldering in Munich, where Jernej Kruder wrote historic success with winning the first medal at a bouldering World Championship. This time we return with two medals. Both were won by Mina Markovič, who became world runner-up in lead and thus won bronze in combined. So I can say that this is definitely one of the most successful World Championships, as we also set historic success this time with as many as three finalists. Besides Mina Markovič, the other two finalists also performed excellently, Domen Škofic was just a little short of a medal and finished the competition in the ungrateful 4th place, with which he achieved by far the best result in men's competition at World Championships. Maja Vidmar also achieved a top result with fifth place. For her too, I can say she had a bit of bad luck, otherwise she would have qualified a place higher. Nevertheless, if we draw a line, we can be more than satisfied."

Markovič and Škofic improve national records in speed climbing

Since they want to earn points also in combined (boulders, lead, speed), Mina Markovič and Domen Škofic went to the wall already on Tuesday and competed in the qualifications of the speed climbing competition. According to selector Roman Krajnik, both performed solidly, and also improved national records. Domen achieved 35th place with a time of 11.79 s, Mina 34th. She needed 18.41 s to the top. Continuing performances in speed climbing passed without Slovenian representatives, but the competition was nevertheless interesting and tense until the end. Among men, Ukrainian Danyl Boldyrev celebrated for a mere 32 hundredths of a second (5.60 s) ahead of Russian competitor Stanislav Kokorin (5.92 s). Boldyrev improved the week-old world record of Czech Libor Hroza with this time. In women's competition, the difference between the winner, Russian Alina Gaidamakina (8.38 s), and the second-placed Polishwoman Buczek (8.55 s) was even smaller.