From 8 to 9 September, the coastal town of Koper will host the best climbers in the world competing in Lead. The 27th World Cup event, which is organized by the Alpine Association of Slovenia and the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC), will be held at the Plus Climbing Center.

One hundred and forty climbers from thirty-two countries are taking part, including competitors from less-known climbing countries, such as Peru, Mexico, and New Zealand. Over the two days, there'll be sixty-nine men and seventy-one women competing for a spot on the podium, including Janja Garnbret, the biggest name in this sport, and Luka Potočar, last year's winner here in Koper. We're extremely happy that both current overall leaders in the Lead World Cup standings, Jessica Pilz from Austria and Soratu Anraku from Japan, are also set to compete in Koper.

"Last season's event was incredible and I expect the same atmosphere and organization this year as well. As always, our team is very strong and everyone's here to compete and give it their all. Because it's our home event, we can have more competitors than usual and members of our Youth team will get a chance to compete at the World Cup stage. We'll have as many as twenty-one Slovenian climbers (twelve women and nine men, seven of them from our Youth team) and I hope they'll be at their best level and get good results. I honestly believe this is going to be one of the best events of the World Cup season and I'd like to invite everyone to come and cheer for our climbers and make it an unforgettable evening," said Gorazd Hren, head coach of the Slovenian Climbing Team.

Along with Janja and Luka, the Slovenian squad will consist of the following climbers: Milan Preskar, Martin Bergant, Lovro Črep, Zan Lovenjak Sudar, Gorazd Jurekovič, Anže Peharc, Gregor Vezonik, Timotej Romšak, and Jennifer Eucharia Buckley, Sara Čopar, Katja Debevec, Mia Krampl, Julija Kruder, Vita Lukan, Rosa Rekar, Lana Skušek, Lučka Rakovec, Zala Mlakar Starič and Lucija Tarkuš.

Janja Garnbret, who'd won gold in Boulder and Combined and silver in Lead at the recent World Championships, wants to perform at her highest level in Koper, as she always does. "I'm really looking forward to Koper. I want to show my best climbing in front of my home crowd and, hopefully, make even more people excited about climbing. I hope there‘ll be plenty of people cheering for us at our home event and the atmosphere is surely going to be amazing once again. I'm looking forward to competing with the world's best climbers, as it's this rivalry that pushes everyone to train hard and give it everything we have."

Last year, Luka Potočar came to Koper after winning a silver medal in Lead at the European Championships and the thousands of fans in Koper carried him to his first World Cup win. He hasn't had such a successful season this year but still counts on the fans for some extra energy for a good result. "As always, the support of the fans will be very important and I'll definitely leave it all out there. Everyone who comes to Koper to cheer for us will contribute to a great atmosphere and I hope to do well on this wall, which I know very well."

After last season's wonderful event with ten thousand excited fans, we're happy and thankful that the general sponsor of this year's edition will again be Prva Osebna zavarovalnica.

Along with the exciting competition taking place on the attractive outside wall, which hosted its first World Cup event last year, there'll also be plenty of additional activities for the whole family: Mini Olympics for kids, climbing on a mobile wall, music, and a chance to meet the stars of climbing. Together with the Koper City Municipality, the Alpine Association of Slovenia has prepared a two-day climbing program for the general public. "During Friday's qualifications, we'll have a program aimed at primary school children. They'll get to try their hand at climbing on the mobile wall and take part in the Mini Olympics. The semi-finals will take place on Friday evening. We've worked with the Val 202 radio station on the music we're going to play, which is going to be great. On Saturday afternoon, we'll have two up-and-coming bands, Before time and Đoko, performing live. This is part of the Prva priložnost (First Chance) project, which is supported by PRVA, the general sponsor of the whole event. The climax of the Koper World Cup, as far as music is concerned, will be the concert of Tabu, a highly popular Slovenian band, which has been made possible by Telekom Slovenija. Throughout the event, we'll have local businesses promoting and selling their services and products, and the event's partners will be present as well," concluded Matej Planko, the Head of Event.