Waterworld 9a by Mina Markovic - Updated

Mina Markovic, who has won 22 World Cups, has done her third 9a, the 55 m Waterworld in Osp which was put up by Kleman Becan. Interview with Mina from July when she did her second 9a, Halupca with new pics from Luka Fonda. Starting from 2010, she was 2 - 1 - 1 - 2 - 2 - 1, in the overall World Cup. Last year, she had her worst season although finishing #4 in the European Championship. After the lockdown with cancelled competitions, workshops, and psychology lectures, she has had more free time to spend outside and go climbing.

" The first time I tried Waterworld was like six weeks ago. Honestly, it really 'shut me down' as I didn't understand anything at my 1st go 😣. I know the route is quite 'famous' for its complicated sequences, so it wasn't such a 'shock' after all. Anyhow, I did not try it for two weeks but somehow, (on the shooting of Halupca 9a), I still wanted to climb more. This time, I somehow understood some moves (in theory!), but I was still far from doing them individually. At that time, I realized, that even if I do all of them, a fair amount of biceps strength would be the need for connection. It has, by far, been the longest project I have ever had. I stopped counting after 21 tries but all in all, I guess almost 30 tries over ten days.

I did it on my fourth day climbing in a row on my 3rd go. Yes, my life would be easier if I sometimes know how to more rest 😆 but, (un)fortunately, I just love climbing too much... "

Did you do any special indoor training as a preparation? No 🙈🙈🙈, actually in last three months I have maybe spent 3-4 days indoors per month. I am climbing 5-6 days per week.