Janja Garnbret's First Win in Koper, Vita Lukan Third

The most successful sport climber of all time, Janja Garnbret, achieved another milestone in front of a crowd of several thousand home fans - her first World Cup lead victory on home soil in Koper, bringing her total World Cup wins to a record 41. Slovenian success was complemented by Vita Lukan, who celebrated a bronze medal despite losing her chalk bag. The other two Slovenian finalists, Mia Krampl and Luka Potočar, finished eighth.

Olympic champion, eight-time world champion, and five-time overall World Cup winner in lead, Janja Garnbret proved in Koper once again that she is made of winning material. With roaring support from home fans, she was the only finalist to top the final route and claimed her first win in Koper, where she was second last year. This marks a new record - her 41st World Cup win. "I really enjoyed Koper, I don't think I've ever been so relaxed at any competition, neither in qualifiers, semi-finals, nor now in the final. Finally, I got first place in Koper too. Last year there was disappointment with second place, now I finally have the win. This was also my last competition this year and of course it's great to end the competition season on a high note, even better when you win at home. I'm extremely grateful to the fans, everyone who supported us," said Garnbret.

"I don't know why I was so disappointed with second place last year, but I really was disappointed. This year I finally got my revenge and finally my win in Koper is here," she added.

Second place went to Japanese climber Ai Mori, while Vita Lukan celebrated bronze despite bad luck in the final. Although she lost her chalk bag in the final route, she swung to third place with excellent climbing and iron will. "This third place means a lot to me, especially in front of the home audience and such tough competition. I'm thrilled with the audience support. I'm very satisfied with my performance. When I lost the chalk bag in the middle, I was angry at myself. But I'm lucky that my hands don't sweat that much, so I continued climbing without problem. It didn't throw me off track and I calmed down immediately and kept climbing," said the 22-year-old from Radovljica, who thus put the icing on the cake of her excellent season this year, in which she also achieved her premiere World Cup win.

The third Slovenian finalist Mia Krampl, fourth at this year's world championship in lead, slipped in the lower part of the route and ended the competition disappointed on eighth place: "I'm very angry at myself, this anger will remain for a while. I wanted to climb as best as possible, especially since it's a competition in front of the home audience, you want to do even better. Unfortunately, there was a slip and my climbing ended early. I'm glad I had support from the home audience, even though it didn't go well for me. I'm glad that as a team we were very successful at this competition, especially in the semi-final. My next competition will probably be the one in China and I hope for a better result there."

In the men's competition, 16-year-old Japanese Soraku Anraku celebrated with a flawless performance and the only top on the demanding men's final route, silver went to American Jesse Grupper, bronze to Spaniard Alberto Gines Lopez. The only Slovenian finalist Luka Potočar unfortunately failed to repeat last year's win in Koper and ended the final on eighth place with a mistake in the middle part of the route. "Although it's hard for me to say, this year's final performance was already a big achievement. Especially hard to say after two seasons when I was constantly in finals. Of course I'm not as satisfied with my form as last year, since I came to Koper as European silver medalist, but I'm very satisfied with the semi-final performance. The route was, as it seems, more climbable from the problematic move where several of us fell. The route looked simpler on inspection, but in the end it was very hard, maybe also less interesting for spectators," summarized the 21-year-old from Jesenice, last year's overall World Cup winner in lead.

At the home competition among 140 competitors, as many as 21 members of the Slovenian sport climbing team participated under the leadership of selector Gorazd Hren and coaches Luka Fonda and Domen Švab. A Slovenian top ten made it to the semi-final, of which seven Slovenian women. In the semi-final, 18-year-old Sara Čopar, junior world champion in lead, thrilled, missing the final by just one move and finishing the competition in 10th place. Lučka Rakovec was 19th, Martin Bergant 21st, Lana Skušek 22nd, World Cup debutants Rosa Rekar and Lovro Črep 25th.

Gregor Vezonik and Anže Peharc finished qualifiers in 31st and 33rd place respectively. Jennifer Eucharia Buckley was 34th, Lucija Tarkuš and Timotej Romšak finished in 40th place, Gorazd Jurekovič was 42nd, Zan Lovenjak Sudar 45th, Katja Debevec and Milan Preskar took 48th place, Julija Kruder and Zala Mlakar Starič 53rd or 55th place.

At the end of the competition, similarly to the selector of the Slovenian team Gorazd Hren, competition organizer Matej Planko added his enthusiasm over the successes of Slovenian competitors and assessed that 5 thousand enthusiasts of sport climbing attended the Koper final competition.