Janja Garnbret secures grand sport climbing gold at Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

Well, Janja Garnbret firmly cemented her status as one of the greatest competition climber of all times, male or female, by becoming the first ever Women’s Combined Olympic Champion on a sultry evening at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Garnbret had already won everything there is to win in her illustrius career, but the 22-year-old Slovenian confessed that the pressure of expectations, from the rest of the world and importantly from deep within, was higher than she had ever experienced before. But today she brushed this all aside and climbed lighter than a feather and faster than lighting.

Everything went right for Garnbret, starting with Speed where she got off to a great start by placing a surprising 5th. The event was won convincingly by Aleksandra Miroslaw who set not only the first Olympic record but also a new world record in a blazing time of 6.84 against Anouck Jaubert, while Japan’s Miho Nonaka and Akiyo Noguchi placed a strong 3rd and 4th respectively. Jessica Pilz, Brooke Raboutou and Chaehyun Seo all performed far worse than they would have preferred, leaving much work to be done in Boulder.

As the sun set a slight breeze picked up and Miroslaw tried her best to defend her lead on the three powerful and tricky boulder problems, but the Pole failed to score a single zone. Actually, zones proved absolutely decisive in creating the ranking, since none of the athletes failed to top a single problem. Apart from Garnbret that is, who topped out on #1 fourth go, and regally flashed boulder #2. In truth Raboutou got heartbreakingly close on both of those blocs, slipping on #2 while matching the top, but it wasn’t to be. So while Boulder victory was already in the bag for Garnbret, bloc #3 was instrumental in deciding the ranking, as both Raboutou and Nonaka secured a vital zone to place second and third respectively.

Garnbret’s overall victory was now within touching distance but still needed to be grasped. The athletes came out in the reverse order of the Lead qualifications results, meaning that once again Miroslaw got the ball rolling. She fared no better than 9 holds, Jaubert a few seconds later added a further 4. The route was just the right intensity for Raboutou who really needed to make amends here, but a slight hesitation proved costly and she fell far lower than she was capable of. As Noguchi took to the stage everyone knew that this was her last-ever competition; the 32-year-old who has given so much to this sport wanted to finish her career on a high and her swansong performance impressively matched her drive. But Garnbret was quite simply in a league of her own, breezing past all the difficulties to set an inconceivable highpoint.

At this point only Miho Nonaka was still in with a chance of gold, but only if she climbed even higher. An impossible task. Very few people in Tokyo today, or the world for that matter, could have bettered the Slovenian’s performance. Nonaka fell lower than Noguchi, while first Pilz, then Seo, tried to close the gap. All failed. Which meant gold went to Janja Garnbret the great and, much to their delight, silver and bronze went to friends and teammates Miho Nonaka and Akiyo Noguchi. Their tears of joy and pride will be one of the enduring images of this competition. As will that of Garnbret’s relief, immeasurably immense.

So sport climbing's first Olympic adventure ends here. After the celebrations die down, eyes will slowly focus on the next Olympic Games at Paris 2024. One thing is certain already: climbing competitions have become huge and are now an integral part of the world's sporting universe. A big shout out to all those who in all these years, through their hard work and relentless passion, have made this possible.

FINAL RESULTS WOMEN'S COMBINED