Janja Garnbret’s dominance in the world of competition climbing appears to be continuing into 2024. At today’s Boulder World Cup women’s final in Keqiao, China, Garnbret topped every problem with relative ease to win gold. She also placed first in the qualification and semi-final rounds. It’s her 16th Boulder World Cup gold to date.
Garnbret was the only woman to top all four climbs in the finals. She flashed every problem except the slab, where she had one slip and then easily sent on her second go. Her dominance was most apparent on problem #4, the final climb of the night. The five competitors before her struggled to reach the zone hold on the powerful, awkward problem. Garnbret walked up and floated it, earning a flash.
“It’s the first World Cup of the season and you are always a little bit nervous because although I have been training hard over the winter you don’t really know what your competitors have been doing,” said Garnbret after her victory. “I knew I was strong and I felt good, but you never know in a competition. Today I really enjoyed myself and I climbed like I wanted to climb. I was calm, felt very confident, and I just enjoyed the atmosphere and the competition.”
Garnbret was joined on the Keqiao podium by Italy’s Camilla Moroni in second and China’s Zhilu Luo in third. Moroni started the night out strong, topping the first two problems of the night and putting pressure on Garnbret. On problem #3, she reached zone. Problem #4 shut her out, as it did for all other comptetitors other than Garnbret. Luo’s performance was hot and cold. She brilliantly flashed problems #2 and #3, but was unable to reach zone on the first and final problems of the night.
France’s Zelia Avezou, Great Britain’s Erin McNeice, and Japan’s Anon Matsufuji placed fourth, fifth, and sixth respectively. Natalia Grossman, Brooke Raboutou, and Oriane Bertone did not compete in the event. Canadian Maddie Richardson just missed out on her opportunity to compete in the finals, placing seventh in the semi-finals.
The women compete again later this week at the Lead World Cup in Wujiang, China. It will be Garnbret’s second-last World Cup before the Olympics, as she’ll be sitting out of a few events to train and prepare for the biggest comp of the year. In Keqiao, the men are up next, with the final two rounds of the competition starting early tomorrow (or late tonight, depending on your timezone).
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