Paraclimbing Bronze for Tanja Glušič and Gregor Selak

The Slovenian paraclimbers Tanja Glušič and Gregor Selak won a bronze medal on September 13 in Innsbruck, which is already their second medal from the World Championships in their careers, and the Slovenian paraclimbing team can now boast a total of four precious medals from the World Championships thanks to them.



In complete silence that marked the final of female paraclimbers in the B2 visual impairment category, so that coaches could give them instructions for progressing in the route, Tanja Glušič (AK Ravne) achieved the third highest height of the final route in strong competition and thus won her second medal at the paraclimbing World Championships. "It went well for me and I'm happy to have achieved third place. Unfortunately, I ran out of time, as I still had some strength left, so I could have climbed a bit more. The route was difficult, the moves long, I barely reached them, long distances for the feet, so it was hard to find footholds, the hardest part was in the overhang. The qualification routes were also difficult," summarized the 22-year-old from Prevalje, who won a silver medal at the 2014 World Championships in Gijón - at that time still under her mother's guidance - the first Slovenian paraclimbing medal for Slovenia, but did not compete in Paris two years ago. The world champion became British climber Abigail Robinson, and second place with a height just half a move higher than Tanja's was taken by American Whiteny Pesek.



Tanja's medal is a team success, for which her coach Jurij Ravnik is also responsible, who gives her instructions for climbing. "Jurij dictates to me which foot should go higher, where the better hold is, which foot has better footholds, where to go more to the left, when to use magnesia, when to climb more dynamically. I can hardly see anything, except when I'm right at the wall, I might see one hold, otherwise not," explained the young climber who sees as if looking through a straw, and this year she has already won the paraclimbing masters in Imst and earned silver at the World Cup event in Briançon.



With the same record of medals this season, Gregor Selak (Društvo za razvoj plezalne kulture), a former member of the youth team in sport climbing, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2014 and has successfully continued his sports career as a paraclimber since 2016, traveled to Austrian Tyrol. "By result, I could have come to Innsbruck for more, but regarding the climbing, I'm satisfied. I warmed up well, climbed without mistakes and gave my maximum, which is the essence, so I'm very satisfied. The competition schedule also went in my favor, everything clicked," rejoiced the 29-year-old from Škofja Loka, who won a bronze medal already at the 2016 World Championships in Paris: "We achieved a new medal, but we have a challenge for next year, when there will be another World Championship - in Japan - and we're going higher."



In Selak's RP3 mobility impairment category, Frenchman Romain Pagnoux climbed the highest in the final and thus defended his world champion title, while Briton Michael Cleverdon reached the same height as Gregor, but second place was awarded to him due to a better qualification result. "The final route allowed really nice climbing, it was top league, just like in the qualifications, so the route setters really excelled. The world champion remained the same, he is really much better, but this year, when I started training with Roman Krajnik, I also progressed a lot myself, and if we continue next year, we'll catch the Frenchman. Compared to Paris, I've progressed a lot, but the competition is much bigger too. The second- and fourth-placed in Innsbruck were not at the previous championship, so there are new faces and everyone is always better," Selak added.



"I'm thrilled with Tanja's climbing, for me her bronze medal is the same as gold. Everyone who watched the final saw how much smaller she is than the other competitors, how much more statically she has to climb. She ran out of time, six minutes, but she had a lot of strength left and could have progressed further, as the part coming up was one we've trained a lot. That's why there's a bitter aftertaste, but we're super happy for her medal," said proud Jurij Ravnik, also the selector of the Slovenian paraclimbing team, and just two hours later also happy about Selak's bronze: "I'm very satisfied with Gregor's performance. The competition has intensified greatly, so we're happy with the bronze medal, although there's a slight bitter aftertaste, as it was just one move or the qualifications that decided second and third place. He climbed very well, with a bit more luck he would have gotten silver."



The Slovenian paraclimbing team is returning from Innsbruck with a 100% success rate, as both competitors won a medal and increased the total number of Slovenian paraclimbing medals from World Championships to four: Glušič with silver and bronze, Selak with two bronzes.