Climbing
Janja Garnbret reaches climbing’s brand-new peak and the view is wonderful
The Slovenian climber claimed her sport’s first gold medal on the world’s biggest stage in Tokyo. Find out more about Janja Garnbret’s journey to the top.
In climbing, just as in life, a problem is something you have to solve. But in climbing, it means a particular move or sequence of moves on a route or boulder that, once completed, lets you keep heading up.
The first problems that Janja Garnbret liked to solve involved climbing the door frames in her childhood home in Slovenia. After she broke quite a few door frames, it was becoming a little bit of a problem for her non-climbing parents – they had to find an outlet for her boundless energy.
They tried dance, football and tennis. None of it stuck like climbing. Little did her parents know that once she got on the climbing wall, not only would she never get off, but she would make history, becoming the first-ever climber to clean-sweep an IFSC World Cup season and the first female gold medallist as the sport made its debut in Japan.
Watch the story of her perfect World Cup season in Reel Rock:
20 min
The perfect season part 1
Janja Garnbret has been dominating the climbing competition scene. Can she complete the perfect season?
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01
The wall was a calling
It was apparent from the very beginning that she'd found her calling. She recalls an episode from her youth at a sports camp: “I remember when we were kids, the others were just playing ball or other games. I didn't want to get off the wall. I’d be on it for an hour and a half at a time, moving left to right, right to left, up, down. Even back then, I knew this was it. This was what I wanted to do.”
Soon, even school took second place to climbing. And Garnbret actually quite liked school – her drive to be the best was apparent there as well – but: school more fun than climbing? Said no one, ever.
Janja Garnbret climbing in Osp
© Tobias Zlu Haller/Red Bull Content Pool
It seems Garnbret has always had the focus and commitment that is absolutely necessary in climbing. But there are plenty of disciplines within the sport, so which would she choose? She had always been competitive, so she naturally gravitated towards sport climbing, which takes place in a gym, on man-made routes designed specifically to challenge – and challenges are exactly what she likes.
“As a child, I wanted to be the best in everything,” she says. “I wanted it to be the best in school. I had to have the best grades. Then I wanted to be the best in the school athletic competitions, in track and field. I just wanted to be the best. Then I kind of realized I can’t be the best at everything – I have to focus on one thing. And I chose climbing.”
02
Training hard
Her career as a competitive climber began in seriousness in 2013 when she was still in high school. No pun intended; she ascended quickly – earning a name for herself as a competition climber with endurance and strong fundamentals, who could quickly identify and solve problems.
When you talk to Garnbret, you realize all of that comes from one thing: when it comes to time on the wall, she’s willing to put in the work – and in fact, she enjoys it. She says training can be better than competitions, as progress is what motivates her the most.
Janja Garnbret putting in the work
© Simon Rainer/Red Bull Content Pool
99 percent of my training is falling. Training for climbing means falling over and over again.
“There's nothing better than training hard, then doing what you couldn't do a month ago, three months or a year ago,” she says. “What motivates me is the progress.” It’s that kind of attitude that’s propelled Garnbret to such momentous heights – and ultimately, more than just satisfaction, but pure joy.
"My life would be pretty depressing without climbing,” she says. “I know that’s true because when I do climb, you can see the happiness in me.” Even when she falls? “99 percent of my training is falling,” she states. “Training for climbing means falling over and over again.”
03
Immediate success
Garnbret's promise as a climber saw her represent Slovenia in age-group European and World Championships in Bouldering and Lead, becoming world champion in both. In 2015, at the age of 16, Garnbret started participating as a senior in International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) World Cup and World Championship events.
Her dominance of the Lead discipline was immediate. She was the overall World Cup series in Lead in the years 2016, 2017 and 2018. In Bouldering she claimed her first overall World Cup series win in 2019, having done a clean sweep of winning all the Bouldering World Cup events that season. In the combined Bouldering and Lead category she was World Cup champion for four years in a row from 2016 and 2019. In the same period she won six Climbing World Championship titles, two in Bouldering, two in Lead, and two in Combined.
04
Being the best climber in the world
Garnbret has been climbing for so long; she may have spent literally years worth of her life on the wall – all in pursuit of a single goal: being the best climber in the world.
About that. For years, climbers at the gym or crag could serve up any number of punchlines with this easy intro: “If climbing had a gold medal…” Starting in 2020, it was finally supposed to – but it would have to wait one more year until 2021.
I was at the peak of my training. I really didn’t know what to do – keep training? It was hard for me to process.
For Garnbret and other athletes aiming at Tokyo, that meant a lot of uncertainty – the very goal they’d been dedicating all their training towards achieving now simply wasn’t going to happen. At least on schedule. “I was at the peak of my training,” she says. “I really didn’t know what to do – keep training? It was hard for me to process.”
Her reaction to the delay was one born of both instinct and habit. Rather than wallow in pity, she just doubled down in typical style and worked harder than ever.
05
The biggest stage in the world in Tokyo
After a year of waiting, climbing would eventually make its first appearance on the biggest sporting stage of all – the best in the world at her side and competing against her. Garnbret was by far the favorite to win gold. Anything less, and people would have wondered how she went wrong.
Janja Garnbret in Tokyo, on business
© Jason Halayko/Red Bull Content Pool
To say the pressure was on is an understatement. All eyes were on the first-time event, and that meant all eyes were on the Slovenian climber. And that’s where one more piece of Garnbret‘s mental magic came into play: when she’s on the wall, the rest of the world just disappears, and she’s in the zone.
This was especially evident during her assured bouldering and lead performances. Garnbret solved two of the three bouldering problems, while none of the other climbers managed to complete even one. She then climbed higher than any other competitor to secure the victory.
06
Winning every major title there is
There has been no let up in Garnbret's will to win or dominance of Lead and Bouldering disciplines. She'd become the overall Lead World Cup champion again in 2021 and 2022. Up to July 2023, Garnbret has won 40 IFSC World Cup events, making her the most successful World Cup winner in history.
In 2022 she dominated the climbing competitions at the new multi-sport European Championships, with gold medals in Lead, Bouldering, plus the combined Bouldering and Lead title. In doing so she completed the feat of winning every possible major title in sport climbing.
Garnbret will go to the Games in Paris having qualified by taking the gold medal in the combined Bouldering and Lead competition at the 2023 World Championships in Bern, Switzerland. Garnbret also won the separate Bouldering event in Switzerland.
07
Flow state
“It feels like you're not thinking about anything,” she explains. “You just enjoy yourself, enjoy being on the wall, enjoy the moves. You're just actually enjoying who you are – who you are and what you like doing.” That ‘flow state’ mentality has carried Garnbret through years of competition, making her the most decorated female competition climber in history.
Moving on up
© Simon Rainer/Red Bull Content Pool
You just enjoy yourself, enjoy being on the wall, enjoy the moves.
As for what’s coming next? It's all about 2024. After that she’ll do some more climbing. It’s not what she does; it’s who she is.
Watch this portrait video to discover more about Janja Garnbret, or visit her website here.