Jakob Schubert Olympic preparation interview

Jakob Schubert has, overall during the last twelve years, been the best male competition climber in the world. In total, he has made the podium 57 times out of which 48 in Lead. In 2011, he won seven straight WCs, and in total he has won 21 times. The Austrian qualified to the Olympics by getting the Combined silver in the 2019 World Championship, where he also got the silver in Bouldering and the bronze in Lead. (c) KVÖ/Heiko Wilhelm

How do you plan your season before the Olympics?
Regarding comps I plan to do quite a few Bouldering Worldcups before the Olympics since I still feel like the comp experience helps a ton in that discipline. So probably I‘ll do all except the two in the US. Then Lead in Innsbruck and Villars and maybe Chamonix. Training is focused on Bouldering right now and probably around the end of May I‘ll switch my focus on Lead although I‘ll still try to keep my bouldering game especially trying to keep doing some comp style things closer to the Olympics. Speed I keep doing two short sessions a week all the time.

What is your PB in Speed and how do you train for this discipline?
My personal best in speed is from last year july 6,82. and I hope I can get to 6,5 until the Olympics. Focus is mainly on doing rund now and sometimes on some sequences where I feel like I can still improve my technique 😉

What is your goal for Tokyo and who are the main contenders for the medals?
My goal is of course to win a medal, preferably gold 😜 The combined format is very unpredictable even more so with today’s boulder- and routesetting, but I would say the huge favorite is Tomoa and obviously Adam is a big contender as well followed by myself 🤔 But probably almost every athlete has a chance to be on the podium especially since the bouldering wall, I think, there is only one overhang, one slab and a big vertical part, so very slabby design.

Will you do any special training for the expected heat in Tokyo?
Since our competition will be in the afternoon I think it will be bearable. But I will try to train in similar conditions sometimes and be prepared with some cooling utilities. Luckily I prefer to climb in warmer conditions anyways 😉