Jorg Verhoeven - World Class multi discipline challenger

Jorg Verhoeven won the World Cup in 2008 and this year he has been on the podium in a Boulder WC (photo: (c) Heiko Wilhelm). He has also done the first repeat of the 25-pitch-long Dihedral 8b+ in Yosemite (photo: (c) Jorg Verhoeven). Please explain how your climbing interest has shifted over years and why it has been like this? I've always been drawn to many different types of climbing, already during the first years of doing world cups I found myself in the mountains or doing multipitches. Throughout the years I slowly moved from training - sportclimbing/bouldering - competitions to more adventurous stuff like alpine ridges, multipitch climbing in the Alps and abroad, trad climbing etc. What are your plans for 2017 and what about the Olympics? 2017 will see some more adventures like trad climbing in England, multipitch routes in Morocco and maybe even a short Yosemite trip. I will probably do some bouldering comps, but not more than 5 or so. The Olympics is quite a while ahead of us and frankly I will be too old to join the Games. By then I most likely will have ended my competetion career (about time after almost 20 years) and I will probably be hanging on an arctic bigwall or something... How do you think the scene will change it 10 years and where do you see yourself in 2026? We'll probably see a bigger drift between the competitive and the outdoor scene. To be cutting edge in one discipline you will need to specialize. Of course there'll always be climbers that do not specialize but they won't be pushing the limits of the sport. Already now there's not really a climber that can push the limits in more than 1-2 disciplines. Adam is amongst the best (not the same as pushing limits) at several disciplines, but only if he specializes for a certain period. I think the main point to understand is that most of the times, non-specializing athletes are not looking to be 'the best' at something. I can only speak for myself, but I've always aimed for personal goals, that have little to do with the actual level and its maximum. For example I've set myself 9b as a goal, although 9c would be pushing limits.