Sport climbing legend Janja Garnbret dazzles in Boulder semis to storm ahead at Paris 2024 Olympics
Janja Garnbret’s rivals may well have a metaphorical mountain to climb if they are to topple sport climbing’s all-conquering Olympic and world champion.
The Slovenian produced a near-perfect Bouldering display in the women’s semi-finals, scoring 99.6 out of a possible 100, as French hope Oriane Bertone outlined her credentials at Paris 2024.
The combined Boulder and Lead event began with the 20 female competitors tackling the four boulders on Tuesday (6 August).
And it was Garnbret who told her rivals she is here for one medal as the only climber to reach the top of all four boulders .
Bertone, meanwhile, scaled three boulders to place second overall to score 84.5, while USA’s Brooke Raboutou (83.7) and Australia’s Oceania Mackenzie (79.6) did likewise to finish third and fourth respectively.
The climbers will go again in the Lead on Thursday, with the eight best combined scores going into Saturday’s final.
To see the full rankings after the Boulder round, click here.
How women’s Boulder semi-finals played out at Paris 2024
Team GB’s Erin McNeice delivered early doors on Tuesday morning to the delight of this crowd at Le Bourget Climbing Venue.
The 20-year-old is ranked 19th but recently finished third at the Olympic Qualifier Series event in Shanghai, and she was the first climber to secure a top hold – on the second boulder.
McNeice backed that up with another top on the third, while it was the daunting first boulder – which featured a difficult transition from zone five to 10 – which continued to trouble the athletes.
The first 10 climbers, including McNeice, were unable to score more than five points on that boulder, but all that changed in thrilling fashion when 22-year-old Mackenzie – the first returning Olympian taking to the stage – treated it as if it were a Speed wall, navigating the holds superbly to score a perfect 25.0.
Oceana MacKenzie impressed early on
Further climbers enjoyed success on the second boulder, including Italy’s Camilla Moroni, the 2021 Bouldering world silver medallist who went on to take the overall lead when becoming the first climber to scale the final boulder and score 64.0 overall – overtaking McNeice’s 59.6.
Mackenzie, the world number 12, continued to shine when topping the second and third boulders to lead with one more left to tackle.
Bertone, meanwhile, who has one gold and five World Cup silvers, was also in supreme form, moving into second with one boulder to go, and after Mackenize scored 4.9 to finish, Bertone had a chance to move top of the rankings.
Garnbret was only just getting her campaign under way when Bertone tackled the fourth boulder. Garnbret scaled the first boulder for a perfect 25.0, holding her position when turning and smiling to the crowd, while the crowd willed Bertone on in her bid to make it a clean sweep.
Bertone was able to score 9.7 to leapfrog Mackenzie into the lead, and it was then a waiting game for the Frenchwoman with Garnbret and Raboutou both looking capable of bettering her score.
It was a copy and paste job from Garnbret on the second boulder, once more scaling it with ease before turning to the crowd and waving.
The third boulder proved only slightly trickier for Garnbret, who needed two bites on her way to the top, scoring 24.9, and she closed it out when scaling the final boulder with a minute to spare.
It was by far the most challenging boulder for Garnbret, but the Combined world number one found her footing in the end and flashed a huge smile once more to this crowd as she left the stage with the overall lead.
“I was a little bit nervous,” Garnbret told Eurosport afterwards. “Maybe a bit of a shaky start, but it ended great.
“The crowd here is absolutely phenomenal. I felt like I’m already in the finals because they were cheering so loud.
“The last one caused me a few problems. I don’t know why, I didn’t feel too comfortable, but I found my own way. You have to think outside the box, and you have to follow your intuition.”
Raboutou, meanwhile, finished third overall, the Bouldering world bronze medallist scaling boulders one, two and four.
There is work to do for Combined world number two Mori Ai of Japan, but as the best Lead climber in the field she will be expected to improve on her placing of 11th overall when going in the second half of the semis on Thursday.