Janja Garnbret Boulder & Lead World Champion, qualifies for Paris 2024 with Jessica Pilz & Ai Mori

Janja Garnbret delivers, once again. Last night in the packed PostFinance Arena in Bern the 24-year-old added yet another World Champion title to her name and, arguably more importantly, in doing so she qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The Slovenian is therefore on track to defend the title she won in Tokyo 2020 and the relief she displayed was quite simply overwhelming.

This is no surprise. For the last decade Garnbret has been the yardstick against which all other athletes compare themselves, and because she has set the apex so unfathomably high, at times it seems like Garnbret's greatest opponent is Garnbret herself. Yesterday was not a case in point and the Slovenian, plus 6000 spectators, delighted as gravity was put on hold and history unfolded with ease.

Garnbret climbed nigh flawlessly in the Boulder round, placing provisional first and racking up 84.9 points after sending 3 problems, 2 of which flash. Brooke Raboutou slotted into provisional second with 2 tops and 4 zones, just ahead of Jessica Pilz who needed 3 more attempts to secure the same 2 tops and 4 zones. Oriane Bertone and Miho Nonaka secured 1 top and 4 zones, while Ai Mori trailed with 1 top and 1 zone, ahead of Anastasia Sanders who secured just a zone. Better than Jain Kim, who unfortunately failed to make any headway whatsoever in this first round, meaning that the task that lay ahead was mammoth.

After a short pause it was time for Lead. On a perfectly set route Garnbret climbed quickly and ruthlessly to fall just a few moves from the top, a performance matched by Jain Kim and beaten only by Ai Mori who proved that her win at the Lead World Championship a few days ago was no fluke. Her 96.1 points proved vital because Brooke Raboutou, falling considerably lower than Kim, garnered 68 points and slotted into a disappointing 4th place just behind Mori. A few minutes earlier Pilz had climbed higher than Raboutou and, with four climbers still to attempt the Lead route, she was the first to know she had qualified. Interestingly, the scoring system is such that, had Raboutou made one more move or had Mori fallen one hold lower, the American instead of Japanese would have qualified for Paris 2024. But this is the drama of sport and Raboutou will no doubt double her efforts at the next opportunity, the Continental Championships. In the meantime Garnbret, Pilz and Mori can rest for a moment, relieved to have delivered the goods in Bern.

Speaking to the crowd immediately after the event, Garnbret stated “I feel incredible and relieved at the same time. It feels so amazing today. I felt so composed today actually, I was climbing the Lead route flawlessly and I am just incredibly happy right now that I have qualified, even though I have qualified once before, you don’t get tired of this feeling of qualifying for an Olympics. So, my second Olympics – here we go.”