Janja Garnbret is Upset with Timing Lead Finals
Janja Garnbret is one of the world’s best competition climbers and was the strongest at the IFSC World Championships in Lead for women.
She was the only climber to top both of her qualification routes, the semifinal and the final route, yet she finished in second. Jessica Pilz won gold and Jain Kim finished in third.
By being the only climber to top all four routes in the Lead World Championships, you’d think she’d take home gold, but the new timing rule gave more points to Kim.
Garnbret didn’t complain while the event was going on, but told the Slovenian climbing site PZS, “I’m glad for the second place, but also a bit disappointed. I don’t think that any competitor in difficulty should be classified by time, regardless of the rank.
“I’m very happy that I climbed all the way to the top and proved that I know how to climb under pressure. I knew that Jessica had topped the route, I knew time would be decisive, but it was a little sad that it was all about few seconds.
“The semi-finals were too easy, we saw four tops and no climbers could show which one is better.”
Garnbret wasn’t the only disappointed climber at the event, as Sean McColl missed semifinals due to being penalized. More here.
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