Sport climber Maja Vidmar ends her career

Maja Vidmar, one of the most successful Slovenian sport climbers, will conclude her rich career, in which she strung together 12 World Cup wins, two World Championship medals, and 35 podium finishes, on Sunday, April 3, 2016, in the Poden Sports Hall in Škofja Loka, where there will be a climbing gathering with the Slovenian sport climbing national team in the afternoon, and at 7 p.m., the Škofja Loka native will head into a competition route on the home wall for the last time. Vidmar remains the only competitor with six consecutive World Cup wins in 2007.



Maja Vidmar (1985) started climbing in 1997 at the Škofja Loka Climbing Club and, as a member of the youth national team in sport climbing, became the overall winner of the European Youth Cup as early as 2000. In 2002, she joined the senior national team, and in the same year in Italy, she reached her first World Cup final and also her first World Cup medal – silver in Aprica. In 2005, she won her first World Cup event in Shanghai, and a year later, she celebrated her first victory on the home World Cup in Kranj, where she also won in 2007, otherwise reaching the final 13 times, which is the record for that event. 2007 was her year, as with six consecutive wins—no other competitor has surpassed that—she became the overall World Cup standings winner. Two years later, she earned another win at the World Games in Taiwan and on rock climbed her hardest route, Attila lunga (8c+) redpoint, and in 2010 the route Humildes pa casa (8b+) onsight. In her rich career, the Škofja Loka native collected 12 World Cup wins, 35 podiums, two World Championship medals, as well as one first, two second, and two third places in the overall World Cup standings.



"The year 2007 was definitely the peak of my career. Roman's training plan and my strong will to progress and achieve the set goals were the right recipe! In addition to good training, things also clicked in competitions. I fell into a competitive or winning rhythm and strung victory after victory ... with the last event in Kranj, I thus achieved six consecutive World Cup wins and secured the overall winner's cup. As a gift and icing on the cake, I received Roxy, the pug I always wanted most, from my closest ones," Vidmar recalls of the victorious year 2007, adding that despite bidding farewell to competitions, she has not said her last word in sport climbing: "My plans are of course climbing-related, climbing in a broader sense, not just competitive as before, because I'm primarily interested in rock climbing, discovering new crags, new places, from sport routes to multi-pitch routes, bouldering draws me as well as the mountains ... in short, climbing, where I come alive the most and where challenges never run out! With my many years of competitive experience, I would like to help the younger generation on their path to realizing their dreams and fulfilling their climbing goals."



Vidmar trained from the start until 2009 under the guidance of Roman Krajnik, coach and head coach of the Slovenian sport climbing national team, who comments on the career of his long-time charge: "Maja Vidmar has definitely left a big mark in both Slovenian and world sport climbing with her successes. With her best results, such as the overall World Cup win in 2007 with six consecutive victories, she remains the only woman in the World Cup with such a result. During the time she achieved her best results, she also ensured significantly greater recognition for sport climbing at home. She has an exceptional career as a sport climber and thus certainly deserves a high-level conclusion on the home wall in Škofja Loka, where her rich career also began."



Once again, you are warmly invited to Škofja Loka on Sunday, where Maja will head into a competition route on the home wall for the last time!