3 World Cups in a Row | Anak Verhoeven

An overview of 3 competitions in July:

Chamonix (France)
Two exhausting qualification routes, a complicated semifinal and a final route in which both Janja and I reach the top. 2nd place (due to countback), so first podium of the 2016 season! Jain takes bronze.
1. Janja Garnbret (SLO)
2. Anak Verhoeven (BEL)
3. Jain Kim (KOR)

©Denis Timmermans

Villars (Switzerland)
This ski resort hosts a World Cup for the first time. I celebrate my 20th birthday on the day of the qualifications. The female climbers are somewhat confused during the observation of the semifinal route, but the moves feel quite logical after all. I’m glad I reach the finals again. 4 out of 8 finalists fall on the same boulder move in the finals. Countback again… a silver medal for me again. Same podium as in Chamonix. 🙂

Briançon (France)
Tied on the 1st place with Jain and Janja after the semifinal with all routes topped. And… a slip of my right hand in the final route. A very disappointing 8th place but a lot of encouraging words from other athletes, coaches from other teams, friends and family.
1. Janja Garnbret (SLO)
2. Jessica Pilz (AUT)
3. Magdalena Röck (AUT)

Some other things I’m thankful for:
– By ‘coincidence’ we had booked an apartment in Chamonix next to the house of ex-world champion Martina Čufar from Slovenia. So nice.
– A happy birthday song after my climb in Villars (thanks Christopher).
– While I was climbing, the DJ usually played the song Hallelujah. Although it’s not really a christian song, I’m glad that people are willing to recognize that I believe in Jesus. The song ‘Oh Happy day’ was played several times too. Great.
– Andrea Rojas is a climber from Ecuador who is studying in Italy at present and participates in Speed World Cups. I met her on the Youth World Championships 2013 in Canada and ever since we’ve been communicating an encouraging each other. It was great to meet her again in Chamonix and share the same apartment in Switzerland.