Strong Slovenian lineup anticipating the World Championships...

Strong Slovenian lineup anticipating the World Championships in sport climbing.



We are counting down the days to the start of the biggest sport climbing event of this year, where between 6 and 16 September in Innsbruck 700 of the most successful sport climbers from 65 countries will compete, including the Slovenian sport climbing team and the paraclimbing team, which are again achieving exceptional successes this year, so the lineup heading into the battle for world medals is as strong as never before.



The Innsbruck 2018 World Championships in lead, bouldering, speed climbing and the combination of all three disciplines is the most important test of this year for the Slovenian sport climbing team, which is heading to Austria stronger than ever before. "A very large team will travel to the World Championships in Innsbruck, as many as 17 competitors - 9 women and 8 men -, accompanied by three coaches and a physiotherapist. The competition venue is close, which we will of course take advantage of, as we rarely have the opportunity to perform in such a strong lineup," emphasized the selector and coach of the Slovenian sport climbing team Gorazd Hren, who after a top season does not hide high expectations: "It is always difficult to talk about goals, as I do not want to put additional pressure on anyone, but I think this time we all really know that we are well prepared, as confirmed by the results of this season. We will bring a medal from the championships, and not just one!"



Slovenia will be represented in Innsbruck by 17 members of the Slovenian sport climbing team. As revealed by Hren, Janja Garnbret, Katja Kadić, Vita Lukan, Mia Krampl and Urška Repušič will compete in all individual disciplines and the combination in the women's category, and Jernej Kruder, Domen Škofic and Luka Potočar in the men's category. As lead specialists, Mina Markovič, Tjaša Kalan and Lučka Rakovec as well as Martin Bergant and Milan Preskar are going to the World Championships, and for bouldering, in addition to Markovič, Tjaša Slemenšek, Gregor Vezonik, Anže Peharc and Zan Sudar. The competitors will be accompanied by selector and coach Gorazd Hren, coaches Luka Fonda and Urh Čehovin, and physiotherapist Peter Hribar.



The World Championships in Innsbruck start on 6 September, with competitions gradually spread until 16 September 2018. "On the first day, the women's lead qualifications begin, the entire lead block takes place until Sunday. After a day off, the championships continue on 11 September with qualifications in bouldering and para disciplines, on 13 September the speed competition begins. The championships conclude on 16 September with a novelty in competitive sport climbing, namely the combination of all three disciplines - lead, bouldering and speed - for the top six from the previous competitions, just as it will be at the Olympics in Tokyo 2020," explained coach Luka Fonda. >>> SCHEDULE WC Innsbruck



The competitors and coaches are timing the peak form for the most important competition of the season. "We went to the preparations right in the city of the World Championships, as Innsbruck probably has the best training conditions in the world. Part of the qualifications will be on the walls where we trained. I think we did top training in the bouldering and lead disciplines there, most of the speed we trained at home in Celje, where progress is also visible, and also specific bouldering in Koper. The entire season is a kind of preparation for the World Championships, from which it is clear that we have not yet gone to the biggest competition with such a strong team," coach Urh Čehovin highlighted the season in the light of preparations for the WC.



Janja Garnbret (Šaleški AO) became the second youngest world champion in history in lead two years ago, last year European vice-champion in bouldering, the last two seasons also the overall winner of the World Cup in lead and combination. This year she is going to Innsbruck with the highest goals: "I want to defend the title of world champion in lead, and since I will compete in bouldering at the World Championships for the first time, I really want to reach the podium there as well. The combination is not my main goal, but I want to see where I am currently in the combination of all three disciplines and also what I still need to work on for the Olympic Games." After the last victory in Munich, when she did not let the competitors get close and climbed all four final boulders in the first attempt in less than four minutes in total, she has been perfecting herself in the last period of preparations. "I devoted a little more time to bouldering, a little less to lead, I also polished speed a bit. Mostly I maintained my form, but I think the head will play the most important role," is convinced the 19-year-old from Šmartno pri Slovenj Gradcu, who this year due to matura missed part of the bouldering World Cup season, which she nevertheless finished in overall fourth place, she is also leading in the overall WC in lead: "The break was mostly an advantage for me. When I finished matura, I had one thing less in mind and was more relaxed. Because of fewer competitions I had more time for preparation for lead competitions. Although this year the overall score in bouldering was not as good as last year, I do not regret it, as matura is once in a lifetime, and when you do it, you are free. The downside was only that I fell a bit out of the competition rhythm that I was used to from previous years, and I did not know what to expect at lead competitions."



Mina Markovič (ŠPK Plus) at the last World Championships in Paris with third place won her fifth medal (a total of three bronze in combination and silver and bronze in lead) at world championships out of a total of ten Slovenian ones. From her first medal at the WC, bronze in Xining in 2009, nine years have passed. As she observes, in all these years and also in light of the premiere of sport climbing at the Olympic Games, the competition at the world level has sharpened strongly: "Especially in recent years, since climbing was accepted among Olympic sports, the competition is preparing extremely accelerated for competitions, also the circle of competitors is incredibly expanding. I do not say that the competition was smaller or less prepared before, the world top was really top, but the circle of competitors capable of podiums was quite narrower - say the top five or finalists - than now, when in some categories there can be more than 40 candidates for the highest places." Last year she was European vice-champion in lead, previously three-time overall winner of the World Cup in this discipline, this year the season did not start entirely according to her expectations. "I hope I learned something from the beginning of the season and managed to correct it. I devoted much more time than previous years to bouldering, dynamic, shorter and for me more demanding routes, with which I had the most problems last year. This was necessary and smart, both because of the trend of routes that was shown last year, and for progress in this area, but perhaps I lacked a bit of endurance, which was usually enough. But I am aware that the World Championships is always a special competition and anything is possible," believes the experienced 30-year-old sport climber from Sežana.



The test in Innsbruck will be the first senior World Championships for Vita Lukan (ŠPO PD Radovljica), who in August became the youth world champion in lead and won bronze in bouldering, which is an excellent starting point for the biggest competition. "While in August I focused on youth competitions, I am really looking forward to competing among seniors again. Achievements in youth competition give me additional motivation and drive to prove myself at the World Championships. Of course the routes will be harder and the competition much bigger, but this year I already competed at World Cup competitions, so I hope the transition to seniors will not be difficult," the 17-year-old from Radovljica is looking forward to the upcoming experience, who returned from the recent youth European Championships in bouldering with two medals, so the intense competition rhythm accompanies her all the way to the peak of the season: "The pace of competitions is quite intense, so this year I also skipped some senior and youth competitions, so that at the competitions I attended, I was as mentally and physically prepared as possible. I went to the competition in Brussels without pressure, as I did not want the result to affect the final preparations before Innsbruck, but the podium is only confirmation that I am well prepared before the World Championships."



Katja Kadić (PK Škofja Loka) can boast the most successful season so far, placed among the five best boulderers in the World Cup. "A friend told me after the competition: Wow, Katja, how good, I can count the best climbers in the world on the fingers of one hand and you are among them! I am very happy that I maintained form throughout the entire season and strung together some really good results. I could hardly wish for a better conclusion than climbing in the final of the last World Cup competition, and that in Munich," the 23-year-old from Ljubljana was smiling, who is already eagerly awaiting her first senior World Championships: "In Innsbruck I will record my first appearance at the currently most prestigious competition in sport climbing - the World Championships. This year I have already fulfilled the goal of improving the placement in the overall bouldering part of the World Cup from last season, so I have no bigger expectations for the competition. I want to compete in the combination as well, which will be super preparation for next year, when the main goal will be qualification for the Olympic Games."



An old acquaintance of world championships is Jernej Kruder (ŠPO PD Celje Matica), whose form really exploded this year, so in this season he celebrated both his first World Cup victory and the overall WC victory in bouldering, the very first for Slovenia. "I still have a hard time understanding what actually happened this season. I no longer think about what was the main reason, but just go on and enjoy what I do," relives the dream season the 27-year-old from Škofja vas, one of this year's seven winners at bouldering WC competitions, who placed on the podium three times and always among the top eight. At the World Championships in bouldering in Munich in 2014 he won second place, which was the first - and is still the only - Slovenian medal at WCs in bouldering. The bouldering top is extremely strong, but what will be key for placement among the best also at this year's World Championships? "There is no key. Even Tomoa Narasaki, who was physically much better prepared than me, failed at the last competition. This can now happen to me or any other competitor or World Cup winner. In any case, relaxation will not be superfluous. Anything is possible. If I managed it in 2014, I see no reason why someone else could not this time."



His first World Cup victory in bouldering this year was also experienced by Gregor Vezonik (AK Ravne), who also stepped on the third podium twice, and that in the season when he qualified for the final for the first time in his career, finishing it in overall fifth place in the WC. "Good results in the World Cup require their time. I was probably already prepared for something like this in previous years, but it did not work out, as several factors influence the whole. This year I also train more and have a different, more relaxed approach to climbing. I have also almost finished university, so I have fewer worries. The fact that friends from the national team achieve such good results also lifts the individual and you begin to realize that you can succeed too," emphasizes the 23-year-old from Ravne, who is looking forward to the new competition challenge: "If I said that I go to Innsbruck without expectations, I would be lying, because after the victory in Munich that is simply impossible. I will approach the World Championships as every competition so far - step by step, boulder by boulder. And I hope that will be enough for the best possible result."



Lead is the parade discipline of Domen Škofic (ŠPO PD Radovljica), the overall winner of the WC 2016 in lead and currently fourth in the overall WC standings, who also placed in the excellent but ungrateful fourth place at the last two world championships. In this season he is also increasing readiness and after a one-year absence from the winners' podium at the last two WC competitions won a bronze medal. "After last season I learned a lot ... This year from competition to competition I enjoy more. I am very happy that I managed to step on the winners' podium twice in the first four competitions, even though I have not yet managed to show my maximum," said the 24-year-old from Radovljica before Innsbruck, who made good use of the month of competition break before the world test: "Immediately after the last competition in Arco, Janja and I took two days off and then climbed two days in the Austrian Zillertal, the rest of the competition break I used for training. I feel excellent and can hardly wait for the competition in Innsbruck."



The Slovenian paraclimbing team is also going to Innsbruck, which operates under the leadership of selector Jurij Ravnik and has returned with a medal from both previous world championships in paraclimbing. The team this year consists of three members, competition veterans Gregor Selak in the RP3 movement limitation category and Tanja Glušič in the B2 visual impairment category, and newcomer Matej Arh in the RP1 category, who is still waiting for the green light after a wrist injury.



"Based on this year's results, we are quite optimistic before the World Championships. I think Tanja and Grega are in the best form so far and we have also been training very intensively in recent months. Regarding goals, I would be cautious, so I will be satisfied with placement in the final, where only the best four go after qualifications, from there everything is open. This year there are the most unknowns at the WC - participation is the largest so far and we do not know competitors from the USA and Japan, and many others did not participate in summer competitions. Another novelty is that after problems in Paris 2016, when several categories were dropped at the last moment, this year there have been changes and merging of categories, which have become very unequal. But this must be accepted and worked on in the future. I am convinced that for Tanja and Grega with optimal performance and a bit of luck gold is also achievable. If Matej wins the battle with time, then at least the final is achievable for him too," explained selector Jurij Ravnik.



Ravnik is also the coach of the deaf-blind climber Tanja Glušič (AK Ravne), who in 2014 in Gijón won a silver medal, the first Slovenian paraclimbing for Slovenia, but did not compete in Paris. About the preparedness and expectations of his 22-year-old ward from Prevalje he said: "Tanja is excellently prepared this year and in terms of climbing level several steps higher than in the past. We improved all elements of climbing, but in her category the difficulty has risen a lot and winning is no longer so easy. Tanja was very disappointed because of Paris, so she is eagerly looking forward to this year's appearance. We hope that the route setters will make good routes. Tanja is among the smallest competitors and due to visual impairment cannot climb dynamically, so too long moves can be an unsolvable problem for her. We primarily want a fair competition, where she could show her preparedness."



Like Glušič, Gregor Selak (Društvo za razvoj plezalne kulture) also celebrated victory and second place this year, who returned withan bronze medal from the World Championships Paris 2016, third was also last year in the overall World Cup standings. "Compared to the previous World Championships in Paris, I can say that the competition is getting bigger year by year. Paraclimbing is gaining recognition, so there are more competitors every year. This year the English were missing from the first two competitions of the season, the current world champion from Paris was also not there, so it is difficult to say what competition is expected. I do not burden myself with competition, but focus on my work," highlighted the 29-year-old from Škofja Loka, optimistic before the peak of the season: "I have multiple sclerosis. This means that I must have my body very rested before the competition. The competition schedule also works in my favor, because we have qualifications on Tuesday, final on Thursday. This season I started cooperating again with Roman Krajnik, so we timed the form excellently before the World Championships."



We wish the Slovenian competitors the most successful and relaxed performances at the World Championships in Innsbruck, and on 29 and 30 September we are already looking forward to cheering for our heroines and heroes also at the home competition in Kranj.