Sport Climbing World Cup 2023 Innsbruck: Olympic champ Janja Garnbret wins boulder title with flawless effort
The Slovenian climbing superstar won her first World Cup gold since returning from an injury from earlier this season, topping each of the final four boulders without falling once.
Sport Climbing
Janja Garnbret put on a bouldering masterclass Thursday (15 June) night at the IFSC Sport Climbing World Cup in Innsbruck, Austria.
The Olympic champion from Tokyo 2020, who missed the first half of this season due to a toe injury, won her first gold in just her second World Cup back.
Garnbret not only topped all four routes in the women's final, she flashed them, meaning she completed each boulder on her first try.
Reigning world champion Natalia Grossman of the U.S. was second, with two tops and two zones, while Olympic silver medallist Nonaka Miho won the bronze.
Grossman had won last week in Brixen, Italy, while Garnbret had taken silver two weeks ago in Prague, where Frenchwoman Oriane Bartone won.
American Brooke Raboutou made a furious push to land on the podium, but could only manage a zone (halfway up the route) on the fourth and final boulder. She finished fourth.
"I don't have the words to say how I feel right now," Garnbret said on the IFSC broadcast. "Coming off of an injury is always hard. I was still trying to find my competition flow. Today I found my zone. I'm really thankful and grateful for all the supporters today and all of the crowd that stayed and cheered us on... and my team, too."
She added: "I wasn't disappointed in Prague. I was so excited that I was competing. It felt weird in Prague because everyone had three [World] Cups and they were in competition mode. I was really just happy [to be back] in Prague."
Each of Raboutou (Hachioji), Grossman (Salt Lake, Brixen), Nonaka (Seoul) - and now Garnbret (Innsbruck) - have won a World Cup gold this season.
It's a 15th World Cup victory in boulder for the 24-year-old who also has 23 lead wins. She's due back on the wall in two day's time to compete in lead, as well.