POTOCAR CARRIES FORM FORWARD INTO KOPER SEMI-FINAL
68 women and 71 men completed qualification in Slovenia with the home crowds having plenty to cheer for in the Lead semi-finals later today
Navigating your way safely through qualification at any World Climbing Series event is the first step on the road to gold, but it still has to be done. World champion’s Janja Garnbret and Dohyun Lee have made sure of their progression topping their respective competitions.
While the Slovenian crowd can shout and support for Garnbret and a host of other home nation climbers in the women’s semi-final, Luka Potocar will fly the flag alone in the men’s.
“There are a lot of people here that I know so it is a bit crazy. There’s a lot of support. The wall we all know. Altogether I enjoy competing here.”
Potocar progressed into the semi-finals in 14th place, but he knows he could have been higher in the rankings: “It could be better, as always. I read the route a bit wrong and I was confused with my feet at some points in both routes and it cost me better results.”
The Slovenian has tasted success in Koper before, and he has confidence from his performances so far this season to go forward: “I think Prague and Innsbruck was good, making the finals. I wished I climbed better, but in Chamonix everything came together and I climbed well, pretty relaxed, and the result came. I was happy with second, I was angry because my hand slipped, but I was also happy for Alberto, it was a great competition for both of us.”
Alberto Ginés López is safely through in fifth spot overall and will undoubtedly take confidence through to the next round after his first World Climbing Series gold last time out in Chamonix, his recent European Championships win, and that he lives and trains in Slovenia now.
Potocar and Ginés López are sole competitors from their countries into the next round, but there are also some strong teams. As usual Japan takes multiple people through with Neo Suzuki the highest placed in second.
Lee is joined by multiple teammates, European bronze medallist Sam Avezou leads a French duo, and Italy has three athletes in semis with Riccardo Vicentini the climber in the 24th and final spot joining another European medallist, Giovanni Placci.
Full men's results can be found here
Garnbret won her 50th World Climbing Series (formerly World Cup) gold in Innsbruck earlier in the season, and with three previous wins in Koper you wouldn’t bet against her getting a 51st.
There are plenty of climbers who will try and are more than capable of stopping Garnbret with the likes of South Korea’s Chaehyun Seo through in second and USA’s Annie Sanders in third. Sanders has already beaten Garnbret to gold this season when she took the Wujiang gold.
You have Olympic medallists Jessica Pilz, Brooke Raboutou and Miho Nonaka in the semi-final and the legendary Jain Kim, so the competition is tough throughout.
Also making it through in 12th position was Ukraine’s Ievgeniia Kazbekova who due to the draw of the competition order was on the wall at the same time as her younger sister Rafael.
Rafael didn’t make it through after finishing just outside the top 24 in 26th but has been enjoying her time on the senior stage: “I’m very happy. I found my flow in the second route, and I enjoyed it so much, it was my style. It was good to just climb for myself and not think about the result.
“It’s my first year on the World Series and it felt amazing to climb here. It was the best fight I had for this season, and I gave it my all.”
The 24th and final spot went to USA’s Ella Fisher who will enjoy an electric Koper atmosphere who will be in attendance to cheer on all the semi-finalists, including the five female Slovenian climbers which includes Lucka Rakovec who is fresh off a bronze medal in the European Championships held in Laval, France last week.
Full women's results can be found here
THE PROGRAMME
The World Climbing Series Koper 2026 continues with Lead semi-finals at 20:00 (UTC+2:00). The men’s Lead final opens day two on Saturday, 5 September at 20:00, followed by the women’s final.
News and updates about all World Climbing events will be available on the World Climbing website, and on the Federation’s digital channels: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube, and exclusively for the Chinese audience, Douyin, Weibo, and Xiaohongshu.
