Optimistic Kruder, Peharc and Lukan...

Optimistic Kruder, Peharc and Lukan are heading to Moscow.



Vita Lukan, Jernej Kruder and Anže Peharc will participate in the November European Championship in sport climbing in Moscow. The latter two will compete for the Olympic ticket, the women's quota is already filled.







The European Championship in Olympic combined, speed, lead and bouldering remains on the competition calendar despite the new coronavirus epidemic. The event is special not only because of the epidemic measures, but also because the male competitors will fight for one more Olympic ticket, which will go to the best European. The Slovenian women's Olympic quotas are already successfully filled. Janja Garnbret was the first to secure it at last year's World Championship in Hachioji, Japan, as the world champion in combined. Mia Krampl secured the second quota at last year's additional qualifiers in Toulouse.







The selector of the Slovenian sport climbing team and coach Gorazd Hren had a difficult decision on who to select for the competition in Moscow, as this year's European Championship differs in many ways from previous ones. "It was logical to send Jernej Kruder and Anže Peharc to Moscow as our fighters for the last Olympic ticket. We in the leadership were unanimous that it would be good to take a female representative to the European Championship as well. First, we would have offered it to Janja Garnbret and Mia Krampl, which they could have used for good training for the Olympic Games. But given the epidemiological situation, they decided to stay home, so the next choice was Vita Lukan, who was immediately the second best on all trainings, behind Janja." In addition to the three competitors and the selector, his assistants Luka Fonda and Domen Švab are also on the list of travelers. There are a total of 16 teams on the entry list, including the host Russia.







The team tried to stick to the planned trainings, even though it had to cancel preparations in Innsbruck, Austria twice, as well as some domestic preparations.







Jernej Kruder faces Moscow with very mixed feelings. "The current conditions are not exactly pleasant, and climbers from different countries have very different training conditions. I am doing my best and going to Moscow as if nothing has changed." At this year's national bouldering championship, Kruder won silver, and third place in the speed competition.







Anže Peharc is looking forward to the competition in very different conditions. "Before, I wasn't so excited about the competition because I knew many competitors wouldn't come to Moscow, the field would be greatly reduced, and the competition conditions would be quite different due to the current situation. But facing these conditions is a challenge for me. I had excellent preparations for the competition and I am very well prepared, so I can't wait to show my form in competition conditions too."







He has overcome the initial discomfort regarding safety. "I feel much better now and this is all a big challenge for me. The most unpleasant will be all the additional tests and the concern about how our return home will be, as it could happen that due to a possible positive test I would stay in Moscow 14 days longer. But we'll deal with everything else along the way," says optimistic Anže Peharc, who was third at this year's national bouldering championship.







Vita Lukan also has mixed feelings about the competition in Moscow, as many other teams have canceled participation. But she thinks it's right that Slovenia decided to participate. "The organizer decided to hold the competition, so I am convinced that they will make an effort for all safety measures regarding our health. Each individual will have to take care to follow the restrictions and take care of their health. I look forward to Moscow as I am in good form."







Vita likes having joint trainings with other team members, there is a competitive charge among them as she misses it a bit due to the lack of competitions. "This year I have lectures remotely, so even during the competition in Moscow I won't miss many lectures. The conditions are not as bad as they might seem at first glance." This year, Vita finished fifth at the only competition of the World Cup season in sport climbing in Briançon, France, and second at the national bouldering championship.







The competition in the Russian capital will take place from November 21 to 29, the Slovenian team flies from Brnik airport on November 19. The first event will be speed climbing, all events can be watched live via the IFSC YouTube channel. This weekend, the team members will have their last joint training in Koper.