New Euro champ Janja Garnbret headlines World Cup lead stop on home soil in Slovenia

The IFSC Climbing World Cup visits to Koper, Slovenia, this weekend for a lead stop with the European and Olympic champion Janja Garnbret headlining on home turf from 2–3 September.

Fresh from clinching the boulder, lead, and combined Boulder & Lead titles at the European Championships in Munich, the 23-year-old – considered by many the best competitive climber of all time – returns home to lead a strong Slovenian team looking to give the home fans cheer.

The latter stages of the event will be streamed live on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com (territorial restrictions may apply).

Garnbret, who also became the combined Olympic champion at Tokyo 2020, has won nearly everything in the sport and continues to rack up victories at pretty much every event she goes to.

But, sitting down with Olympics.com in Munich, the native of Slovenj Gradec said she has never thought of herself as a sport climbing trailblazer.

"I definitely don't consider myself as a pioneer of the sport," she said. "I never thought about it like this. I just go out and just compete to just have fun."

Despite that, Garnbret does occasionally take time to reflect on her achievements.

"When I look back at my career, I'm like, 'Oh, wow.' Sometimes you need to stop and look at what what you achieved because you need to appreciate what you've been going through, what you learnt along the way and what you achieved at the end. So it's definitely incredible.

"I have a cabinet of all my medals, my trophies also from when I was seven years old and I got my first ever trophy. I still have it because I think that every medal, every trophy since the young age brought me to where I am today."

Climbing's pioneer in Slovenia

If Garnbret isn't the pioneer, then who is?

Before Garnbret took climbing to a whole new level, there were others who paved the way with one name standing out in Slovenia.

Some 15 years prior to Garnbret's first World Championship gold medal in 2016, Martina Cufar had been the first Slovenian – and first Slovenian woman – to win a world title.

In a recent interview with Climbing.com, Cufar described Garnbret as an "extraterrestrial".

Fitting words to describe the achievements of the woman who took what Cufar started in the sport to new heights.

IFSC Climbing World Cup Lead - Koper 2022 - schedule (all times CEST, UTC+2)

The event in Koper is due to take place on a new wall, which was finished earlier this year, at the city's Plus Climbing Centre and Bonifika Stadium complex.

Friday 2 September

• 9am–2pm: Women's and men's lead qualifications
• 8pm–10:30pm: Women's and men's lead semi-finals

Saturday 3 September

• 8pm: Men's lead final
• 9pm: Women's lead final

How to watch Janja Garnbret and others at Lead Climbing World Cup Koper 2022

You can catch the action from the semi-finals and finals from Koper on 2 and 3 September right here on Olympics.com! Geo-restrictions may apply.