Janja skips next four Boulder WCs

Last year, Janja Garnbret set a new record winning six Lead World Cups and three in Bouldering. In the Combined WC, she almost had twice as many points as the runner up. This year the 19 year old Slovenian has started by being #2 and #1 but she has said on her Insta that she will skip the next four WC events. Most probably this relates to save some competition energy and also get the best possible preparation for the World Championship in Innsbruck as well as focusing on her last semester in school. In fact, skipping some World Cups have been part of her strategy since she entered the scene in 2015, when she just did three out of seven Lead WCs, with the worst results being #3. The good news for Janja, in regards the Combined title, is that it is only from the two best results the overall ranking will be multiplied. With the Olympic qualification coming up in 2019, it just might be that Janja and other top climbers will limit their WC appearances in order to save energy. Instead their full focus will be on the Combined WCH and if they miss there, the Special qually event or even the Euro Combined qually event. The same focus should the Japaneses have as the Combined WCH will most probably determine the only spot they can qualify to the Olympics. Japan also have one spot as the host but this can be selected in any way they want. In other words, it just might be the the Overall World Cup for Lead and Boulder in 2019, will loose it's importance as it is all about making it to Tokyo 2020 that counts during the World Cup season 2019. (c) Eddie Fowke