Wins pretty much everything: Janja Garnbret from Slovenia
The sport climbing season began with the first World Cup this weekend in Meiringen, Switzerland. 83 women and 111 men fought in the preliminary round to reach the semi-finals. There, 20 athletes faced each other, six of whom made it into the final. The bouldering discipline was held, which is climbing at jump height without a rope. Several so-called bouldering problems have to be completed on artificial climbing holds at a height of three to four meters. The fewer attempts an athlete needs, the better the rating. There are also points for achieving an intermediate hold.
In the women’s category, the favorite Janja Garnbret didn’t give her pursuers a chance. Already in the semifinals she was the only one to complete all four boulders. In the final, too, she asserted herself confidently, when she was once again the only one to completely master the four challenges. For Garnbret it was the 14th World Cup victory in bouldering. She won 17 more in the rope climbing discipline, was world champion six times, and won the gold medal at the Olympic premiere last year in Tokyo. Second in the tournament at the weekend was Natalia Grossmann from the USA, third was Andrea Kümin from Switzerland. The men’s final competitions took place jW– Editorial deadline. Surprisingly, the silver and bronze medalists from Tokyo, Nathaniel Coleman (USA) and Jakob Schubert (Austria), failed in the preliminary round.
Balance, Acrobatics, Mut
Sport climbing is practiced in three disciplines. When bouldering, the focus is on balance, acrobatics, courage and body tension. The sometimes tiny grips are sometimes so far apart that jumping and holding techniques also have to be mastered perfectly. In the Lead discipline, the athletes are secured to a rope and climb a 15 to 20 meter high wall. In addition to climbing technique and skill, stamina is essential, because climbing all the way through the facilities that are newly built for each competition is extremely exhausting. The one who gets the furthest wins, the reserves are not always enough. If there is a tie or if several people reach the top handle, time will decide. Combined competitions in bouldering and lead are often held. In tournaments, all athletes who have not yet climbed are in an isolation zone so that they do not see their opponents moving on the route.
A third discipline is speed climbing, called speed. A ten or fifteen meter high route has to be climbed as quickly as possible. Two athletes always compete in a direct comparison, whereby both facilities have to be climbed in two runs and the times are added. Whoever is faster gets one lap further. When it comes to speed, maximum strength, speed and the highest gripping and pedaling precision are important.
Routes and sequence of grips have been standardized since the 2005 World Championships, so that movement sequences can be trained precisely. At the Olympics, Bassa Mawem (France) scaled the 15-meter vertical wall in 5.45 seconds, while Aleksandra Miroslaw (Poland) was the fastest in the women’s event with 6.84 seconds.
At the Olympic premiere in Tokyo, there was a combination of all three disciplines that was unusual for many participants. Two competitions are now planned for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, namely the usual lead-boulder combination and speed climbing. The Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee recently proposed that sport climbing be included in the program on a permanent basis.
Sustained boom
The professional climbing season is tightly scheduled. After the tournament in Meiringen, the next World Cup will take place in Seoul at the beginning of May. Twelve more competitions in Japan, China, Indonesia, the USA and in all countries bordering the Alps – except Germany – will follow by October. For the European athletes, the European Championships will be held in Munich in August. However, very few athletes will attend every appointment because not all three disciplines are held.
The exclusion of Russia and Belarus from international sports competitions is also supported by the World Climbing Association IFSC. Two planned World Cups in Moscow have been moved to other cities. In addition, athletes from both countries are not allowed to participate in tournaments of the IFSC.
The Russian athlete Vadim Timinow is affected by the exclusion. On March 1, he spoke out against the war in an entry on his Instagram channel. »When I see what is happening in Ukraine, my heart bleeds. We don’t need war. We want peace.« He also reported that he had taken part in a demonstration against the war in Saint Petersburg and also observed arrests there. He later deleted the statement and replaced it with the note: “The text was removed due to new laws in Russia. I hope you understand and that you remember what I wrote.« The original version is on the homepage of the Canadian climbing magazine Gripped still visible. Meanwhile, climbing gyms in Ukraine serve as a place of refuge. Floors there are laid out extensively with mats as standard. Photos of sports facilities in Lviv and Kyiv show that people are staying there.
The ongoing boom in climbing is accelerating its commercialization. Until now, the competitions could be followed live and free of charge on the IFSC homepage. This time the live stream was blocked in Europe and Latin America, instead the tournament was broadcast on pay TV channels Discovery plus and Eurosport transfer. IFSC President Marco Scolaris hopes that this will give the athletes greater sponsorship opportunities. However, the organizer in Meiringen referred to the possibility of circumventing the restriction via a so-called VPN client – a virtual private network – and also being able to access the live stream from Europe.
