Janja Garnbret

Janja Garnbret is a Slovenian rock climber and sport climber who has won multiple lead climbing and bouldering events. Garnbret won her first international title in the lead competition of the 2014 World Youth B Championships.

Garnbret first discovered climbing at the beginning of elementary school and the first peaks she conquered were the tops of trees, cabinets and other pieces of furniture at home in Smarna near Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia. From that start point Janja enrolled on a climbing course, where she was introduced to the techniques of climbing as a sport.

By the end of elementary school, Garnbret had made the Slovenian Youth Climbing Team and she crowned her first season in national colors with the title of European Junior Champion in 2013.

By the end of high school, Garnbret had already packed nearly two dozen world-class awards into her trophy cabinet. In 2014, 2015 and 2016 she won gold at the World Junior Championships and progressed from there to winning most of the IFSC competitions in which she participated in 2016. Janja won the World Cup in Lead and Combined disciplines, the World Championships in Lead, and the World Youth Championships in Lead and Bouldering in 2016.

The next year, 2017, saw Garnbret win the World Cup in Lead and Combined; the Combined title in the European Championships and she finished second in Bouldering in both the World Cup and the European Championships.

The Slovenian Sports Journalists Association named her athlete of the year in 2018 and in early 2019 she was the recipient of the Bloudk Award for Outstanding International Achievement.

In the first half of 2019, six consecutive boulder-climbing victories crowned her the overall winner of the Bouldering World Cup and she became the World Champion in both Bouldering and Difficulty climbing and the 3x3 format at the Tokyo World Championships.

In addition to competing, Garnbret aims to conquer the peaks of as many of the world's toughest rock formations as possible.