No pressure, just enjoyment - Domen's winning recipe

Domen Škofic, #2 in the 8a ranking game, has had a slow but steady progress in World Cup rankings, just as he wanted. Suddenly in 2016, the Slovenian 22-year-old won three out of the first four events. (c) Stanko Gruden (Interview with his fiancee Janja Garnbret is coming up). How can you explain the great development in 2016? I seriously have no idea how that happened. I had a lot of trouble with the pain in my lower back at the start of the year and had to avoid certain moves as it was to painful. I also decided to skip bouldering because of it. I was rarely happy with my training, as it was always a half of what I wanted to do. With special exercises and treatments with physio therapist, I was able to recover in time, but I was still seriously doubting my shape before the season kicked off. Somehow I was able to relax and didn't even care about my goals anymore. I came to Chamonix without any expectations, just super thrilled that competitions finally started. I knew that I'll have to fight and risk it all, to make a good result. It was just the opposite situation compared to last year, when I was feeling in the best shape of my life and full of expectations, taking podiums for granted. I then finished 9th on the first two comps and this year I won 3 out of 4. So I guess that played the biggest role, being free of self-made pressure and just enjoy the competition scene no matter what happens. After all this success I couldn't control my expectations anymore and deep down I wanted nothing less than a podium in Paris. Finishing 4th again after Gijon two years ago was a heartbreaker. I admit I lost some motivation and at the same time I didn't want to mess up the overall. The last two comps were mentally the hardest for me. Defending is way harder, than attacking. Luckily, I managed to keep it together to the very end and pulled off something I would call crazy dreams just two years ago. What was the feeling and nervousness about starting the final in front of your home crowd? I have to admit that this was my mentally hardest competition ever. The hardest part was definitely just before semis, where I had to perform perfect to make it to finals. Luckly, I didn't know I had to actually top the route. It got a lot easier, when I knew I got in the finals, but still, it wasn't over yet. When I watched the replay of the stream commentator said, I surely knew I already won the overall before my final climb, but I didn't. I heard Jakob finished fast, but so did all before him. I only saw that Romain wasn't sitting in one of the leader chairs. Jakob was still to sit down on some of them. So it was a nerve wrecking battle to the very end. The route was tough, but when I slipped off in the middle of the route, still with lots of gas in the tank, I thought I surely failed. I got to know that it was enough for second place and that I got the overall from Urban only after I tied off the rope. I can't describe the feeling of the relief and happiness afterwards. What is the next plan, 2017 aim and what about the Olympics? I want to continue with my slow and steady progress and achieve what I still haven't... I'm definitely giving most of my focus on bouldering next season and try myself there to. I would definitely like to find some time for outdoors and finish the unfinished business. The Olympics are still far and we still don't know how they're going to be. The format and how to qualify is still not known. I would definitely like to compete there one day, but only if climbing doesn't change drastically in the process of becoming an Olympic sport. I would seriously have a hard time to decide whether to go or not, if I had to start training speed as we know it today.