Mukheibir and Janse Van Rensburg qualify for the Olympics

Lauren Mukheibir and Mel Janse Van Rensburg won the African Olympic Qualifier and the tickets to Paris 2024. From the female and the male result we can see that all 8 + 8 finalists were from South Africa. © The Good Beta/IFSC

Lauren: “I feel fantastic! I have trained in Australia the whole year with an incredible coach called Alan, and he’s taught me so much. In between all the training, I’ve been studying over time, I’ve just finished my degree, and now this! I just feel phenomenal!” she said. I’m going to Paris. I still can’t believe it! I still can’t believe it! My parents were here, my godfather was here, pretty much the whole team from my gym in Johannesburg, they have all had my back since day one. I’m so happy that they were here to witness this. I’m not gonna lie, the boulders felt really hard, but also so cool. I would love to get the chance to try them again! I started getting very nervous just before the Lead, so I’ve locked everything out and climbed my heart out. I had so much fun!”

Mel: “I’m surprised, I guess. This feeling is unreal, I am super happy! I was a little bit nervous before the Boulder round, but I knew I could do it, so I just tried to have fun. The Lead route felt good all the way, I knew that if I had topped, I would have won. I’m currently studying Engineering in Lyon, France, so next year is going to be tough, but I’m going to have to make time to train and maybe do some more World Cups... I haven’t thought that far!”