First-ever female World Champion in Sport Climbing: Combined, Janja Garnbret is our Athlete of September 2018!
Garnbret (SLO) is The World Games 2017 silver medallist in Lead, and at the recent World Championships in Innsbruck, Austria, she took gold in Bouldering, silver in Lead and gold in the new Combined event which is the discipline that is going to feature at the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020. The 19-year-old sport climber is one of the big hopes for Slovenia in the upcoming Olympics.
Already in 2015 Garnbret placed fourth in the overall Lead climbing standings, and in 2016 she won most of the IFSC competitions in which she participated. She won the World Cup in Lead and Combined disciplines, the World Championships in Lead, and the World Youth Championships in Lead and Bouldering. In addition to her competition climbing career, Janja Garnbret is also an accomplished outdoor climber, completing the ascents of various extremely difficult routes.
Janja Garnbret started competing when she was 14 years old. “Through the years I started training harder and harder, and I realised that I could become the best climber in the world. I love it when adrenaline goes through your veins, when you are on your own on the wall and you try to give your best and utilise everything from your training. Everyone is watching and cheering for you”, she says. Besides school and climbing, she does not have time for much else.
“And even if I had time for anything else, I would still go climbing,” she laughs. As a piece of advice for young athletes she says: “Focus on your goals, work hard for them and never give up.”
The World Games is a multi-sport event staged every four years by the International World Games Association under the patronage of the International Olympic Committee. The 11th edition of The World Games will be held in Birmingham, Alabama, USA, 15-25 July 2021. 3,600 athletes from over 30 sports and 100 countries will take part in the Games.
