The Olympic champion, Slovenia’s Janja Garnbret, will have the opportunity to defend her title as she claimed her ticket to Paris 2024 by taking the Boulder & Lead World Championships title in Bern, Switzerland.
Garnbret built a lead in the Boulder round and secured her return to the summer showpiece event with another solid Lead performance, adding yet another world title and gold medal to her already impressive haul.
Garnbret said: “I feel incredible and relieved at the same time. It feels so amazing today. I felt so composed today actually, I was climbing the Lead route flawlessly and I am just incredibly happy right now that I have qualified, even though I have qualified once before, you don’t get tired of this feeling of qualifying for an Olympics. So, my second Olympics – here we go.”
The first to actually secure Olympic qualification was Austria’s Jessica Pilz who has amassed enough points to confirm atop three spot with four climbers left to attempt the Lead wall. The Austrian finally ended with the silver medal.
Heading to her second successive Olympics, Pilz said: “I knew my Boulder round was kind of good but it was all still open until the end. I knew I had to give my all for the Lead route and do my best. I wasn’t sure when I fell if it would be enough, but then my coaches signalled to me that it was, but I couldn’t really believe it and I really wanted to wait until the end until it was safe. It still feels surreal.”
The bronze medal, and the third and final women’s Paris 2024 ticket went to Japan’s Mori Ai who came back from a low scoring Boulder round to top score in the Lead and overtake USA’s Brooke Raboutou.
Mori said: “I was nervous but when I climb I get excited. I wanted to reach the top, but getting the Olympic ticket makes me very happy.”
The American Raboutou could do nothing but sit, wait and watch as Mori ascended the wall and passed the score of 137.8 she had set. Mori’s final score was 140.6 points.
Rounding out the final standings was South Korea’s Kim Jain in fifth, France’s Oriane Bertone in sixth, Japan’s Nonaka Miho in seventh and USA’s Anastasia Sanders in eighth.
Full women’s Boulder & Lead results can be found here
Women's Boulder & Lead podium at the IFSC Climbing World ChampionshipsPhoto: Jan Virt/IFSC