Janja Garnbret Triple Crowns During Debut of New Olympic Format

In 2016, the International Federation of Sport Climbing announced climbing’s inclusion in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. The controversial Combined format pooled the Speed, Boulder, and Lead Sport Climbing disciplines into a single competition. Despite the tensions surrounding the format, the undeniable success of climbing’s Olympic debut paved the way for a new format in Paris 2024.

Tokyo 2020 to Paris 2024

Instead of having 20 athletes per gender category compete across all three disciplines in a two-round competition, Paris will see two medal categories. In 2024, Speed climbers will compete for their own medals, while Lead and Boulder athletes will compete in a new Combined format.

While specialists will continue to hope for unique medal disciplines for Los Angeles 2028, this new Olympic format has made it easier for climbing’s best boulderers and lead climbers to train for the upcoming Olympic Games.

To win in Tokyo, learning how to compete well in Speed was necessary. Although few Lead and Boulder athletes hoped for the top spots in Speed, competing well in the multiplicative format required a somewhat low Lead score.

The scoring format multiplied the athletes’ rankings from all of the disciplines to find their ultimate score. This score would determine who entered finals or who made it to the top of the podium. A scoring example follows:

First in lead, second in boulder, and eighth in Speed would create the equation 1*2*8=16. This made winning one of the disciplines almost essential for podium.

This week saw the debut of the new Paris 2024 Olympic format. Munich hosted the event following separate Lead, Boulder, and Speed events, each equipped with their own medal category. Following these competitions, a Combined Final was held for those athletes who competed best in both the Lead and Boulder categories.

With 200 available points, 100 per discipline, climbers who qualified from the previous finals competed once again. This aspect of qualification differs from the true Paris Olympic format. In 2024, finalists will be chosen from a single qualification round held during the event in advance of finals. As mentioned before, there will not be individual medal categories for Lead and boulder. Learn more about scoring for Paris and related rules for the new Olympic format.

With the finalists already qualified from their involvement in the earlier rounds of the European Championships, finals began.

Janja Garnbret Earns Her Triple Crown

Preceding this week’s competition, Garnbret had never won gold at a European Championships. This is no longer the case. After incredible performances in both Lead and Boulder, Garnbret qualified for the Combined final in first. With two gold medals already to her name, she queued up for one more intense final at the 2022 European Championships.

Garnbret competed in both Lead and Boulder and ultimately secured a near perfect score of 199.9. She fell on Boulder Four, losing 0.1 points to an attempt. She then topped the boulder on her second go.

“Being three-times European champion sounds good, but it feels even better,” Garnbret said,adding that she may be in need of a new trophy cabinet after her time in Munich.

“One shelf broke not long ago. The things on it were too heavy,” she said. “If it’s too small I will buy a bigger one, but when I look at my cabinet and medals I’m like ‘Whoa, when did this happen?’ because time flies as I’m competing so much and sometimes you have to stop and realise what you have achieved because it is incredible.”

After tough setting earlier in the competition, it appeared that the routes and boulders were softened. As a result, three women Topped the women’s Lead route: Garnbret, teammate Mia Krampl, and Austria’s Jessica Pilz. This gave them each a score of 100 in the discipline.

Germany’s Hannah Meul hoped for silver after back-to-back silver medals at the Brixen and Innsbruck Boulder World Cups. Meul is one of the rising stars of the women’s category, even winning silver in Boulder earlier that week. She controlled second position heading into Lead, after earning three tops in Boulder.

After so many athletes Topped the women’s route, it became clear that Meul would not be able to make the podium.

“I can’t be angry but I’m disappointed,” Meul said of the day’s result. “I had high expectations for a second medal. If you win one medal you are excited and want more and more, but it was so close.

“I really showed how strong I am on Boulder and really gave my best, but in Lead it was so close. I know I will get better and will use this as a motivating factor for the next competition.”

Result

1 – Janja Garnbret (SLO)

2 – Mia Krampl (SLO)

3 – Jessica Pilz (AUT)

Featured image of Janja Garnbret by Dimitris Tosidis.