Janja Garnbret’s (22) remarkable strength and diversity has set her apart as a fierce competition climber, with some calling her the best the world has ever seen, but her achievements don’t stop at the podiums. The Slovenian trail-blazer has also proven that she is well worth her salt on rock, having racked up an impressive tick list over the past few years.
And now, with her send of Fish Eye in Oliana on 1 November, she has further cemented her name in history by becoming the first woman to onsight 8C. As if that isn’t enough, Janja onsighted another 8C – American Hustle – just two days after bagging Fish Eye.
Oliana – which rests in Spain’s Serge Valley – has become a sport climbing mecca thanks to its 50m of steep, sheer limestone cliffs. The crag is home to some of the world’s hardest sport climbs, including La Dura Dura (9B+), which translates to “the hard hard” and was famously projected by Chris Sharma and Adam Ondra in 2013. In fact, some sources have reported that Janja climbed the crux of La Dura Dura during her America Hustle warm-up session – just in case anyone is yet to be convinced of her raw power and talent.
Janja adds these latest triumphs to her long list of accolades, which includes over thirty IFSC World Cup medals, six IFSC World Championship titles and, of course, climbing’s first female Olympic gold medal. Needless to say, the sky is the limit for Janja, and we’ll likely see her making international headlines once again in the near future.