Janja Garnbret Comes Out on Top in Most Exciting Climbing Comp of the Year

Janja Garnbret is the 2025 World Championships double champ. After earning gold at the Lead World Championship yesterday, she won again today at the Boulder event. The victory marks her 10th World Championship gold medal. She now has an unprecedented four Boulder, three Lead, and three Combined World Championship victories to her name.

The women’s Boulder final at the World Championships was easily one of the most exciting comp climbing events since last summer’s Olympics, with Garnbret and Oriane Bertone of France neck and neck throughout the event. Bertone made quick work of the first problem of the night, flashing the coordination problem with ease. Garnbret on the other hand, took five attempts to top the bloc, putting her behind Bertone by 0.4 points.

Both athletes flashed problems 2 and 3, moving them well ahead of the rest of the competitors. The gold medal would be determined by the fourth and final problem, a power bloc. If Bertone could flash it or even top it in four or less attempts, the victory was hers. On her first attempt, she reached the top 25-point hold but couldn’t stick the move, crashing back down to the mats. She rested for several minutes and gave the problem one final attempt before the clock ran out. She climbed better than her first attempt, reaching the final move quickly. She shot for the final hold, and her hand grasped it, but it wasn’t enough. She fell to the ground.

Garnbret was up next. A top would give her the gold medal. “You kind of know what is going on, but not really,” she said after the event when asked about whether she knew that Bertone didn’t top. “I knew already at the observation that the boulders were not that hard, maybe the last one was the hardest, but I knew there wasn’t a lot of room for mistakes. I knew what I had to do on the last boulder as I knew Oriane didn’t top. It definitely looked like my style and I knew I would top it, but it [added] a bit of pressure.”

Photo: Jan Virt/IFSC

On Garnbret’s first attempt she made a mistake and fell halfway up the problem. She took a short rest and got on again. She looked a little squirrely, and had a small footslip, but continued quickly to the final sequence. Blasting through the final two moves using her characteristic ungodly strength, she matched the top hold with apparent ease. The victory was hers – she had just won her fourth-ever Boulder World Championship gold medal.

“It’s incredible, honestly,” said Garnbret after the comp. “I don’t know if I wished that this would happen, but today I just climbed with my heart. I felt kind of empty from yesterday’s Lead semi and final. After winning the adrenaline goes a little down but I really just focused on myself and my climbing and luckily it worked out today.”

Joining Garnbret on the podium was Bertone with silver and Team USA’s Melina Costanza with bronze. Bertone also won silver at the Boulder World Championships in 2023. It was Costanza’s first time being on a World Championship (or World Cup) podium.

Photo: IFSC

Final Results

  1. Janja Garnbret (SLO) 99.5
  2. Oriane Bertone (FRA) 85.0
  3. Melina Costanza (USA) 59.8
  4. Erin McNeice (GBR) 54.8
  5. Jennifer Eucharia Buckley (SLO) 44.5
  6. Anna Maria Apel (GER) 44.0
  7. Annie Sanders (USA) 39.3
  8. Ayala Kerem (ISR) 29.6

Women’s Boulder World Championship Final

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