STA, 13 August 2019 - Slovenian climbing phenomenon Janja Garnbret has successfully defended her title of bouldering World Champion, taking gold at the championships in Japan's Hachioji on Tuesday. Silver went to Japanese veteran Akiyo Noguchi and bronze to British climber Shauna Coxsey.

The 20-year-old, who won all six bouldering events of this year's World Cup season, has become the first female climber with two consecutive bouldering World Championship golds.

"Last year was really special, as that was my first title, but this year things were a bit more intense and particular because of what I had managed to achieve during the entire bouldering season. I'm truly happy I was able to keep a cool head and that I achieved this," Garnbret commented.

This is already Garnbret's forth gold and fifth medal in total at World Championships, while Slovenia now has a 15 such medals.

Garnbret is meanwhile far from done in Hachioji, as she will also be defending her World Champion title in combined, the discipline with which sport climbing will be making its Olympic debut in Tokyo next year.

She is moreover among the favourites in lead, having won silver at last year's World Championships in Innsbruck.

All our stories on sport climbing are here, while those on mountaineering are here

We’re huge fans of Janja Garnbret at TSN, the 20-year-old Slovene who’s already won more world championship events than any other athlete, widely seen as the best sport climber in the world, and a hot tip for next year’s Olympics, when climbing will make its debut.

It’s thus a delight, but no surprise, to learn that Garnbret – who excels at both Lead and Bouldering – is among the ten finalists for the Sportswoman of the Year award for 2019, given by the New York-based Women's Sports Foundation since 1980.

Other women on the list are the American alpine skiing star Mikaela Shiffrin and artistic gymnastic champion Simone Biles. Others in the individual sport category also include American track and field athlete Ajee Wilson, American boxer Claressa Shields, American mountain biker Kate Courtney, American Paralympic swimmer Rebecca Meyers, Paralympic triathlete Allysa Seely, British auto racer Jamie Chadwick and South Korean golfer Jin Young Ko.

Anyone can now vote for Janja Garnbret, seen in action below, at the related website, right up until 2 August in Slovenia, or 3 August 6:59am CET. Multiple votes for Garnbret, or other finalists, are possible if you have multiple email addresses.

The winners, one from an individual sport and another from a team sport, will be announced in New York on 16 October.

You can see all our stories and videos of Janja Garnbret here

After last week’s shocking 9^th place finish Janja Garnbret did much better this week, finishing 2^nd in Briançon, France. In first place was Korea’s Chaehyun Seo, while in third came Japan’s Natsuki Tani. Two other Slovenian women made the top 8, with Mia Krampl 4^th and Vita Lukan 7^th.

Turning to the men’s competition, all three medals were won by Japanese climbers, with the gold going to Hidemasa Nishida, followed by Hiroto Shimizu and Shuta Tanaka. The highest ranked Slovene with Domen Škofic, in 7^th place.

The weekend put the Japanese in first place in the team rankings, with 375 points, Slovenia second (224), and the USA third (179)

More details results can be found at the IFSC site.

By now fans know the routine – Janja Garnbret will come out on top of the Lead and Bouldering events, with her peers competing for second and third places. But this weekend saw a shock result in Chamonix, France, as the 20-year old Slovene, who already has more victories than any other competitor in the sport’s history, reached just 9^th place in the semi-finals, not even making it through to the final round. With Garnbret watching the top place on the podium went to Korea’s Chaehyun Seo, followed by China’s YueTong Zhang and Austria’s Jessica Pilz. The highest ranked Slovene was Lučka Rakovec, in 7^th place, while Mia Krampl was 11^th and Vita Lučkan 12^th.

The men’s event was won by the Czech Adam Ondra, followed by Germany’s Alexander Megos and Austria’s Jakob Schubert. The top Slovene men in Chamonix were 18^th placed Martin Bergant and 20^th placed Domen Škofic.

Surprising no one who’s been following her dominance of the sport throughout her short, but storied career – with the 20-year-old already having won more World Cup Events than anyone else – Janja Garnbret took another first place in Villars, Switzerland. She was joined on the Lead podium by South Korea’s Chaehyun Seo in second place, and Japan’s Ai Mori in third. Two other Slovenian women made the top ten, with Mia Krampl in fifth place and Lučka Rakovec sixth. Garnbret comes on stage at the two hour 17 minute mark in the following video.

Turning to the men’s event, this was won by Switzerland’s Sascha Lehmann, followed by YuFei Pan (China) and Alexander Megos (Germany), with Slovenia’s Domen Škofic having to make do with a fourth placed finish.

STA, 9 June 2019 - Winning also the last, sixth, bouldering event in Vail, US, Slovenia's Janja Garnbret has completed this year's World Cup bouldering season making history by winning all events in a season. She clinched the overall bouldering title already earlier this year.

"This was my lifetime dream. I can't believe I did it. I'm speechless, I'm so emotional right now," the world's leading sport climber said crying tears of joy.

No male or female climber has managed to win all World Cup bouldering events in a season since the competition was launched in 1999. This was her 25th World Cup win.

Garnbret comes out about 1:52

Garnbret, the winner of the 2018 Slovenian Athlete of the Year Award, has been winning bouldering events ever since 21 April 2018, when she won in Moscow.

Last September, she was also crowned bouldering champion at the Climbing World Championships in Innsbruck, Austria, also taking gold in combined and silver in lead.

Garnbret, who won the lead climbing and combined World Cup titles in the last three years, is a serious candidate for two more milestone achievements this season.

The lead season starts in July and she could well become the first ever climber with four straight lead titles. She also hopes to emerge the winner in combined, which would make her the first climber ever to secure all three titles (bouldering, lead, combined) in a season.

The weekend saw another IFSC competition event, this time bouldering in Munich, with five Slovenian women in the top 8, and two Slovenian men in the same.

As usual, the women’s event was won by Janja Garnbret, with second and tird places going to Fanny Gibert (France) and Mia Krampl (Slovenia). The other Slovenes in the top 8 were Katja Kadić (6^th), Vota Lukan (7^th) and Lučka Rakovec (8^th).

Turning to the men’s event, this was won by Austria’s Jakob Schubert, followed by Adam Ondra (Czech Republic) and Jan Hojer (Germany).The Slovene’s in the top 8 were Anže Perharc (5^th) and Gregor Vezonik (8^th).

If you’re in Ljubljana and want to see the world’s best sports climbers in action, then note that on Saturday Kongresni trg will see Janja Garnbret and others in a free event, Triglav the Rock, with details here.

This weekend saw another leg of the IFSC Climbing World Cup, with both bouldering and speed events in Wujiang, China. As usual, Janja Garnbret, who competes only in lead and bouldering, took the top spot on the podium, this time followed by Akiyo Noguchi and Ai Mori, both from Japan. Two other Slovenes also made it into the top 20, with Katija Kadić at 13^th position, and Lučka Rakovec at 15^th.

Turning to the men’s bouldering event, this was won by Austria’s Jakob Schubert, followed by Keita Dohi and Kokoro Fuji, both from Japan. Slovenia’s Jernej Kruder, usually much higher ranked, had to content himself with 16^th place, with Gregor Veznok at 15^th , while Anze Peharc was 20^th.

Another bouldering competition and another first place finish for Janja Garnbret, as the young Slovene took gold for the third time in the third event of the season in Chongqing, China. She was joined on the podium by Akiyo Noguchi (Japan) in second place, and Austria’s Jessica Pilz. Katija Kadić was the other Slovenian in the top 10, finishing sixth.

Turning to the men’s bouldering, this was won by Manuel Cornu (France), followed by Japan’s Tomoa Narasaki, with Slovenia’s Anže Peharc in third, while Gregor Vezonik was eighth.

The results means that Slovenia remains at the top of the team rankings for bouldering, ahead of Japan and France, while the women’s event is led by Janja Garnbret. With regard to the men’s overall rankings, the Czech Adam Ondra is in the lead, followed by Slovenia’s Jernej Kruder.

It was another good IFSC Climbing Worldcup weekend for Slovene climbers in Moscow, with Janja Garnbret coming in first place in the bouldering event, followed by the UK’s Shauna Coxsey and France’s Fanny Gilbert. In 4^th place for the women was another Slovene, Lučka Rakovec.

With regard to the men, Jernej Kruder took the gold, followed by the Czech Adam Ondr and Japan’s Yoshiyuki Ogata, with another Slovene in 4^th place, Anže Peharc.

These performances secured first place for Slovenia in the team rankings, with 331 points, followed by Japan (210), and France (151).

All our stories on climbing – both sport and alpine – are here.