Škofic just off the podium
18.09.2016
Domen Škofic finished 4th in lead on the final day of the World Sport Climbing Championships in Paris, equaling his result from two years ago. This is Slovenia's most successful World Championships to date, as the trio returns home with medals from the noblest sport climbing competition: Janja Garnbret with gold, with which she became the second youngest world champion in history, Mina Markovič with bronze, and para-climber Gregor Selak also with bronze. The climbers return to Slovenia tomorrow afternoon, so we cordially invite you to a press conference on Monday, September 19, at 4 pm at the headquarters of the Alpine Association of Slovenia in Ljubljana.
The World Sport Climbing Championships concluded with the lead final featuring Slovenian climber Domen Škofic (ŠPO PD Radovljica) in a promising starting position, as he was second after the semifinals. Despite good climbing in the final route, he placed just off the podium and repeated his success from the World Championships two years ago in Gijón, where he was also fourth in lead. "I have mixed feelings; on one hand, I'm satisfied, I enjoyed the final, I don't think I've ever climbed a better final route, on the other hand, despite good climbing, I'm disappointed because I ended up just off the podium again. But that's competitions! More could have been done in the route, but I misread the sequence of moves, so something similar happened as in Arc. As much luck as I had at the start, now there was bad luck," said the 21-year-old from Radovljica.
The world champion for the second time in a row was Czech Adam Ondra, the only one to reach the top of the final route, second was Austrian Jakob Schubert, third French Gautier Supper. Was it harder because of the girls' success the day before? "No, it motivated me even more. The only annoying thing was hearing others' expectations that I had to win a medal too, but the girls' success affected me more positively than negatively," emphasized Škofic, who with three wins this year is currently leading the overall World Cup standings in lead, and in the continuation of the season wants to climb the best he can.
Just the evening before, in the French capital, Janja Garnbret (Šaleški AO) set a new milestone for Slovenian climbing with a victory accompanied by standing ovations from a several-thousand-strong crowd in the Bercy hall, and Mina Markovič (ŠPK Plus) with third place at the World Championships in lead. The barely 17-year-old from Carinthia repeated the success of Martina Čufar, the 2001 world champion, after 15 years, while her more experienced teammate ensured with bronze that Slovenian sport climbing for the first time in history had two competitors on the World Championships podium.
"If I assess the entire championships, we exceeded our expectations. We went for a medal, we got two, Janja's even gold and Mina's bronze, which is a truly incredible scenario we're extremely pleased with. I'm sorry for Domen, who climbed well otherwise and I would have wished him a medal, as he was fourth at the previous World Championships. It's important that he's satisfied with his climbing, but there's a bitter taste to being the first off the medal line. I'm also satisfied with the performances of the others, only in women's bouldering I expected at least one semifinalist, but that happens quickly. After the World Championships, we move on and will focus on the next World Cup events," assessed the most successful World Championships for Slovenians to date, the selector of the Slovenian sport climbing team Gorazd Hren.
In addition to the women's medals, on Friday, September 16, Slovenian competitor Gregor Selak won a bronze medal at the World Paraclimbing Championships in the Rp3 category, where climbers with limited joint mobility, strength, and balance compete, which is the second Slovenian medal at World Paraclimbing Championships.
At the biggest sport climbing event of the year, Jernej Kruder (ŠPO PD Celje - Matica) placed 11th in bouldering, Urban Primožič (PK Škofja Loka) 12th in lead, and Rebeka Kamin (ŠPO PD Domžale) 21st in lead in the semifinals. In the World Championships qualifiers, Tjaša Kalan (AO PD Kranj) also competed, placing 27th in lead, boulderers Tjaša Slemenšek (Šaleški AO) and Julija Kruder (ŠPO PD Celje - Matica) finished 27th and 29th respectively, Martin Bergant (PK Škofja Loka) 37th in lead, and Gregor Vezonik (AK Ravne) 45th in bouldering.