The super climber Janja Garnbret lived up to the high expectations placed on her in the bouldering semi-finals at the Olympic Games in Paris: she was the only athlete in the starting field to top all four boulders, two of them as flashes. With 3 tops each and a Zone 2, Oriane Bertone, Brooke Raboutou and Oceania MacKenzie put themselves in a comfortable starting position.
The news about the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris is presented by Mammut and Unparallel
The women’s bouldering semi-final in the combined format went largely as expected: The Slovenian Janja Garnbret delivered and showed with four tops from four boulders that she is difficult to pass.
Garnbret top strong, although not completely flawless
Garnbret's class was already evident on the first boulder. She solved parts like the move to the second zone, which many strong climbers struggled with, without batting an eyelid. Boulder number two was a true demonstration of her strength. She solved the lower part in campus style, and at the top she caught the momentum on the top hold as if it were nothing.
When Janja Garnbret accidentally slipped her foot on the third boulder and botched her flash, a great murmur went through the audience. This reaction underlines how high the expectations are of the Slovenian climber. On the second attempt, she cracked the boulder again in superior Garnbret style.
Confident grip in bag of tricks
The last boulder, the slab problem, showed that even Janja Garnbret doesn't always succeed at everything straight away. She tries to dance delicately several times to reach the second zone on the left side of the wall. In vain. When her footwork on the tiny, additionally covered spax doesn't work, she chooses the dynamic variant and jumps to the saving sloper. A solution that underlines the Slovenian's confidence and climbing versatility: If I can't balance, I'll just jump over.
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Strong trio behind Garnbret
Behind the long-time competition dominator are the French Oriane Bertone, the American Brooke Raboutou and Oceania MacKenzie climbed to ranks 2 to 4. The performance of the Australian, who entered the mats relatively early with starting number 10, was strikingly strong.
She conquered the first boulder, which many athletes struggled with, in the first go. And the second boulder also only took her two attempts. When she found the right solution to the third boulder problem after just three attempts, it was clear: Oceania MacKenzia is on fire.
Solid appearance with room for improvement
With two tops and two zones 2 each, the American Natalia Grossman and the Austrian Jessica Pilz delivered confidently. Both athletes could probably have done even better: Jessica Pilz found her way to the top hold relatively quickly on Boulder 1 and Boulder 2, but then did not find the right momentum to stabilize herself sufficiently.
The strong American had a similar experience on Boulder 1 and 3. The top was literally within reach, but she was missing the crucial beta to be able to hold the final hold in a controlled manner.
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The German hope Lucia Doerffel After a difficult start on the difficult Power Boulder 1, she found her way back into the competition relatively well. Unfortunately, she did not find the right solution on the second boulder to catch the momentum at the top and thus missed out on important points. She was also very close to the top on the Coordination Boulder 3. She had a really hard time on the Slab Boulder, so she had to settle for a total of 29.2 points and 16th place.
The pitfalls of power moves
The women's bouldering semi-final was not particularly difficult. This is demonstrated by the many tops in this round. Nevertheless, almost all four boulders included powerful moves, dynamic movements or jumps that required a lot of maximum strength from the athletes.
Starters like Laura Rogora or Ai Mori clearly had trouble with this climbing style. While the Italian lead specialist only reached Zone 1 on three boulders and did not even get out of the starting position on Boulder 1, the Japanese kept her chances of reaching the final with 2 tops and a first zone.
Results Boulder Semifinal Women
- Janja Garnbret, 99.6
- Oriane Bertone, 84.5
- Brooke Raboutou, 83.7
- Oceania MacKenzie, 97.6
- Natalia Grossman, 69.2
- Jessica Pilz, 68.8
- Miho Nonaka, 64.4
- Camilla Moroni, 64.0
Content partner Olympic Games 2024 in Paris
The coverage of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris is presented by Mammut and Unparallel:
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Credits: Cover picture