Janja Garnbret’s Triumphant Return: World Cup Victory in Innsbruck

Sport climbing’s reigning Olympic champion, Janja Garnbret, returned to competition after a nine-month break and looked to be on stellar form. Not only did she return to competition as the Olympic gold medalist—an accomplishment that speaks both to her subjective talent and the massive impact she’s had on the sport so far—but she also appeared to resolve the ever-fascinating paradox of the competitor-climber.

Regardless of when or where the competition is taking place (the most recent World Cup event occurred in Innsbruck—a city known for its vibrant comp scene and pulling many, many hard moves), when Janja Garnbret competes, spectators show up to watch one of the most established figureheads in climbing.

The Road to Recovery

Janja Garnbret is the reigning Olympic champion in climbing, but she has had her share of demons to fight along the way. Much like us mere mortals, Garnbret couldn’t maintain peak performance and avoid injuries, so she took the bitter pill and made her defeat a fact, not only in training—she was missing from competitions, too.

But in rehab, as in training, Garnbret is a beast. She prepared like there was no tomorrow, so she did not have a repeat of the above incident, so we could always see her at competitions at her best, so that… we could see the hero, and some of the world’s athletes as well. Now, she is coming for you!

The World Cup Event in Innsbruck

The World Cup is the "Glastonbury" of the climbing world. Elite athletes from every corner of the globe rock up to compete in the annual series of "Super Bowls" for the tiniest of prizes. It's not about the coin, more the camaraderie. Here, a whopping 52 percent of elite climbers will regularly be seen whooping and a-hollering at the television (whilst glued to an online feed via YouTube) while marveling at the gymnastic prowess of the "mighty men of muscledom" and the "fabulous screaming females" (according to my mum).

Janja Garnbret's Performance

Her clear ability to read "the problems" (as each different climb in bouldering is called) set her apart. During the World Cup bouldering competition in Innsbruck, their performance was nothing short of absolute perfection. On the hardest routes, each had stand-out moments when their strength and agility were striking and way above what anyone else was doing. Their own personal mental game, fancy footwork, and dynamic movements demanded absolute focus and precision execution. Both pulled off controlled, calm, fierce, and totally precise movements only when it really counted under certain, particular pressure each time to do so. Each firmly believed they could pull off a cut-loose "one-two" and a two-finger latch dead-point to a small crimp off a "knee-bar" (both incredibly hard to do!)…and they did it…flawlessly…and each won the gold medal.

The Impact of Her Victory

Janja Garnbret's victory just a couple of weeks ago does two huge things for comp climbing.

As a "gear type," her victory gives us something against which to benchmark "our" gear, the stuff we make (which at this point is mostly just comps, but it could be about anything!); but her victory is so much larger than that, of course, that it threatens to leave in the dust everything about comp climbing, cutting the sport into a parallel and a perpendicular reality: our before and after experiences, before and after Janja Garnbret. She is now that famous.

We make stuff; and the stuff we make has a known kinship with the stuff that she makes, her moves, her ascents/descents, her climbs. To comp climbers (fans and competitors), she is now the bright star in a climbing event.

Thus, she signals one of the general’s flags: yes, it is now time to compete/comp.

The player in question is so physically dominating that we can maybe even call her bad for the sport, but we know that that cannot be so. She was Garret McNamara on that historic ride…until the section ran out, that is (meters from where Nazaré’s left starts to make its entrance), and it was there (Nick putting up the last, winning chords on a piano…), the moment when she realized that her ride had become a "ride-out," and she could take her left hand (zip your collar) off that rail, ride higher up on her rights and the board…and start: h o l l e r i n g .-

Okay, you really…you gotta, you do: you gotta give her some credit now, you gotta give her that: your board, your body, your board shorts ("I have some 38"s beside the dryer") — they all make you this jealous.

Kai, what a ride. What a ride.

Dude!

That just goes (way beyond true) for what competitors know about GC—the gear they make. Just like it does…with the big star on the horizon! Like today, everybody is gonna be out on the water today because the GN is in town and there are gonna be at least 48 winds, that is at least 48 divisions of 1 C-wind blowing out or in (land-breeze or sea-breeze), divided again between the "lobes" on either side of the equator, and again between comers and goers, those weather systems that we all set our watches to, as we begin to rally.

Looking Ahead

Garnbret’s win may foreshadow her performance in ongoing climbing events like the World Cup series and the anticipated World Championships. People will grit their teeth in nervous excitement while tuning into the livestreams for her latest bouldering projects in the wild as well as on the comp scene.

Throughout the year, I’ll be keeping an eye on the types of sponsorships and partnerships that Garnbret and other elite climbers receive.

Janja Garnbret just took gold in the most recent World Cup after not having competed all season. Her raw demonstration of ability and “fuck you” in the face of competition climbing is surely what will go down in history. She’s just so damn strong that I’d be surprised if she didn’t become the image of competitive strength for climbers everywhere.

With that being said, we need you (Janja included) to spread the word. Talk about climbing! Get into discussions on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter—whatever!—about how you think climbing should look. Or even about what Janja should do (or not do) for our sport. Because I mean, c’mon… you change nothing by liking someone's content.