Sport climbers ahead of the bouldering challenge of the year

At the European Championship in Munich, which will also be the final round of the Bouldering World Cup, nine female and male competitors will represent Slovenia this weekend. Heading into the battle for European honours from the Slovenian sport climbing team are also Janja Garnbret, currently third in the 2017 Bouldering World Cup overall standings, Mina Markovič, European runner-up in bouldering in 2013 and European runner-up in lead in 2017, the increasingly successful Katja Kadić with two finals appearances in this year's World Cup, and Jernej Kruder, world runner-up in bouldering in 2014.



The continental bouldering championship will also be the final round of the 2017 Bouldering World Cup, which on 18 and 19 August 2017 in Germany will crown new European champions in bouldering and combined, as well as the overall World Cup winners in bouldering. A record 292 competitors from 47 countries will compete in the bouldering event of the year, including 175 men and 117 women, among them nine members of the Slovenian sport climbing team. The Saturday semi-final (which will also be the European Championship final) at 10 am and the final at 6 pm can be followed live on the website of the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC).



"When presenting the team, I start with the men, who are numerically weaker: Jernej Kruder, Anže Peharc and Gregor Vezonik, unfortunately Domen Škofic will stay home due to a minor injury. For the women, we decided on a larger team and besides the more experienced ones - Janja Garnbret, Katja Kadić, Mina Markovič and Julija Kruder - we will give a chance to the two cadets who have been climbing excellently in the youth team recently, Urška Repušič and Lana Skušek," presented the selected team at the press conference the selector of the Slovenian sport climbing team Gorazd Hren, who remains grounded in expectations: "With such a tough competition, it's very hard to predict expectations. I wish all our competitors good luck and the opportunity to show the best possible climbing in the qualifications, which will probably be one of the toughest challenges so far for most, the full men's qualifications will for example last about eight hours, then we will go step by step. I hope as many competitors as possible qualify for the semi-final, as this opens up all possibilities for good placements at the European Championship. If I highlight names, of course based on the whole season, we expect the most from Janja, Katja and Jernej, all three can be favourites for medals at the European Championship based on what they've shown, while for Janja it's still open how she will finish the World Cup overall standings, she could still be second."



The competition in Munich will count for both the World Cup and the European Championship, so the competition system will be adapted. "There are no changes in the World Cup competition, the top 20 from qualifications will advance to the semi-final, the top six to the final, where the best will become the World Cup competition winner. The European Championship will run in parallel, and to make it as fair as possible, 20 Europeans will in any case advance to the semi-final, so there will probably be more than 20 competitors in the semi-final. The best European in the semi-final will become the European champion, so the European Championship ends in the semi-final. Competitors who qualified for the additional quota (20) due to the European Championship have no right to compete in the World Cup final. Their achievement counts as the place they achieved in the World Cup qualifications," explained Urh Čehovin, coach of the Slovenian sport climbing team. Even though the representatives are in the middle of the lead climbing season, preparations for the European Championship went smoothly according to him: "We did several excellent training sessions and simulations of competition boulders both at home and abroad, one such simulation also in the new climbing centre in Innsbruck with the Austrian team two weeks ago. I think the competitors are excellently prepared, which also gives us great hope for good successes at the European Championship."



Achievements of Slovenian sport climbers at European Championships



Chamonix 2002 Martina Čufar - 2nd place, lead

Lecce 2004 Natalija Gros - 2nd place, lead

Ekaterinburg 2006 Maja Vidmar - 3rd place, lead

Pariz 2008 Natalija Gros - 1st place, bouldering; Natalija Gros - 1st place, combined; Maja Vidmar - 2nd place, lead; Mina Markovič - 3rd place, lead; Klemen Bečan - 3rd place, combined

Imst 2010 Mina Markovič - 1st place, combined; Natalija Gros - 2nd place, combined; Klemen Bečan - 2nd place, combined

Chamonix 2013 Mina Markovič - 2nd place, lead; Mina Markovič - 2nd place, bouldering; Mina Markovič - 2nd place, combined

Chamonix 2015 Mina Markovič - 1st place, lead; Janja Garnbret - 2nd place, lead

Val di Fassa 2017 Mina Markovič - 2nd place, lead



Janja Garnbret (Šaleški AO) this year, besides lead where she has already strung three wins, also started the bouldering season very victoriously, achieved her first bouldering win, a total of two and one second place, and is currently third in the 2017 Bouldering World Cup overall standings, despite fewer appearances in the World Cup compared to her competitors. As before the European lead championship at the beginning of July, where she took fourth place, a switch between disciplines will again be needed. "Since Briançon I have focused only on boulders, we were also in Innsbruck for two days training with the Austrians and I think we trained well, I did everything I could to be as best prepared as possible. Compared to the other girls I don't know where I stand, because we haven't competed together for a long time, but it all depends on the boulder style and we'll see how it goes," said the 18-year-old Carinthian before her debut bouldering championship, one of the few competitors who reach the top places in both lead and bouldering, which is a good foundation also for a top placement in combined: "Although combined doesn't represent a special challenge for me or my goal - the overall standings in bouldering and lead still take priority -, it's still nice to see a top placement."



Slovenian sport climbers have already won 17 medals at European Championships, seven of them climbed by Mina Markovič (ŠPK Plus), European runner-up in bouldering 2013 and European runner-up in lead 2017. "I really haven't competed in the Bouldering World Cup or even further at the championship for some time ... Since my last appearances, the boulder style has changed quite a bit, so for me at least it depends a lot on the setting. I know that in certain types of boulders I can be quite competitive with the other competitors, in some, more dynamic and coordinative ones, despite this year's bouldering training, I still lag behind somewhat," emphasized the competitor living in Sežana, whose flagship discipline is lead. "I primarily remain focused on lead, so most of the training was still for the rest of the lead season, which continues just a week after the bouldering championship. Still, I dedicated several training sessions to strength and coordination training, which boulders are based on," added the 29-year-old competitor, who a month and a half ago in Campitello di Fassa with the title of European runner-up in lead won her seventh medal at continental championships in sport climbing.



This season, with two fifth places at World Cup events, Katja Kadić (PK Škofja Loka), currently sixth in the Bouldering World Cup overall standings, has also drawn attention to herself. It's been almost two months since the last bouldering event, which is no obstacle for the 22-year-old from Ljubljana. "On one hand, it's easier for me to go from competition to competition and be in competition rhythm, usually this way I forget nervousness more easily and let myself climb. On the other hand, the break from competitions was very useful for me to rest and gather energy for the last bouldering event of the year. During this time, I could also improve things that didn't go so well for me at previous competitions," said the competitor, who two years ago in Munich for the first time climbed in the senior World Cup final and took sixth place: "I couldn't say that the wall there suits me particularly well. The setting of the problems seems more important to me, which can suit an individual better at one competition and less at another. But the audience in Munich is among the loudest I've experienced, so I'm already looking forward to competing at my second European Championship."



Munich is a place of happy memories also for Jernej Kruder (ŠPO PD Celje Matica), who in 2014 became world runner-up in bouldering there. This year, with third place in Nanjing, China, he also won his first bouldering medal in the World Cup and is currently seventh in the overall standings. "It's very good for motivation to achieve good results already during the season, because you go more relaxed to the next competition. Relaxation counts the most at competitions, at least for me, as physically and mentally I should be prepared enough for any competition. Of course, this is a good foundation, but I try not to burden myself with the fact that Munich is one of the competitions that suits me very well, because everything depends on daily form and the readiness of the other competitors, especially now when there are so many of us and so many good ones that it's hard to plan a secure semi-final. I don't want to burden myself with the competition, I have to be relaxed and we'll see what happens at the competition where I want to prove to myself that I can climb very well," announced the 26-year-old from Celje before departing for Germany.



Schedule of EP and WC bouldering competition Munich 2017



Friday, 18 August

7.00 men's qualifications

17.00 women's qualifications



Saturday, 19 August

10.00 semi-final (LIVE broadcast on IFSC website)

18.00 final (LIVE broadcast)

21.45 medal ceremony



2017 Bouldering World Cup overall standings before the final round

women (source: IFSC) men (source: IFSC)

1. Shauna Coxsey (GBR) 535 pts

2. Miho Nonaka (JPN) 377 pts

3. Janja Garnbret (SLO) 370 pts

4. Akiyo Noguchi (JPN) 325 pts

5. Petra Klingler (SUI) 280 pts

6. Katja Kadić (SLO) 205 pts

...

32. Julija Kruder (SLO) 28 pts

42. Vita Lukan (SLO) 14 pts

1. Jongwon Chon (KOR) 426 pts

2. Aleksei Rubtsov (RUS) 372 pts

2. Keita Watabe (JPN) 372 pts

4. Tomoa Narasaki (JPN) 333 pts

5. Kokoro Fujii (JPN) 309 pts

6. Rei Sugimoto (JPN) 278 pts

7. Jernej Kruder (SLO) 200 pts

...

39. Anže Peharc (SLO) 22 pts

44. Gregor Vezonik (SLO) 14 pts

64. Domen Škofic (SLO) 2 pts