Brooke Raboutou Savors Bronze in Boulder, Narrowly Misses Out on Podium for Combined at Worlds

Brooke Raboutou narrowly missed qualification for the Olympic Games Paris 2024, but walked away from the IFSC Climbing World Championships with a hard-fought bronze medal in the women’s boulder event.

The 22-year-old Raboutou sealed her first world championships medal in dramatic fashion. As the penultimate climber on the wall, she needed to notch a second top on the fourth and final route, even if it required multiple tries. Swiftly executing a few sleek and dynamic maneuvers, Raboutou flashed it.

“I was pretty happy – this was my personal best at the world championships and my first medal, so grateful to be here with these two strong ladies [Janja Garnbret and Oriane Bertone] and their incredible performances,” Raboutou said, after the victory.

“I didn’t really think I had it after the middle two boulders, but I just wanted to go out there and give everything for myself on the last boulder and enjoy the moment. I was able to do that and it’s a cherry on top to get the podium.”

Slovenian climbing superstar Janja Garnbret went a perfect four-for-four on the routes to win gold in the Aug. 5 event in the Swiss capital. It was Garnbret’s seventh world title. Oriane Bertone of France claimed silver.

Raboutou, who resides in Boulder, Colorado, and is currently attending the University of San Diego, continues to push boundaries in her sport, indoors and outdoors. She is following in the foot jams and hand holds of her climbing world champion parents, Didier and Robyn.

On Friday, Raboutou finished fourth in the women’s combined (boulder and lead) event, coming up just three points behind bronze medalist Ai Mori of Japan. Wild attempts and dramatic falls captivated an enthusiastic audience in the arena seats below.

The top-three podium finishers qualified into the Olympic event at the Paris Games next summer. Essentially, another successful maneuver or two by Raboutou would have locked up the bronze medal and a quota spot for Paris. The Team USA climber is seeking a second consecutive trip to the Olympic Games, having finished fifth in the women’s combined event at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.

“Honestly, I had a lot of fun out there – the boulders were really fun and there were some hard moves,” Raboutou said, shortly after the competition. “I’ve been working really hard for this and I feel like I was able to be in a good mental place for the boulders to just give it my all and really do it for myself

“In the rope climb (lead discipline) I definitely fought, but I was already bleeding halfway up the wall with my left hand, so that was hard,” she said. “But I definitely tried really hard, so I can’t be too upset with myself.”

In the boulder and lead final, Raboutou took to the wall with a quick start in the opening boulder discipline, topping two of four routes to place her second, 15.1 points behind Garnbret, who topped three of four problems. Austrian Jessica Pilz, who also solved two of four problems in the round, was on Rabotou’s tail.

However, in the evening lead discipline, facing an intimidating five-story wall, with three distinct sections, Raboutou was unable to hang on to a top three-position to qualify for Paris 2024. With fatigue setting in as the six-minute time limit ticked away, she ended fifth among the eight finalists in the second discipline. It caused her to drop two places in the final standings, just outside the medals.

Garnbret, the undisputed ‘queen’ of sport climbing, guaranteed her chance to repeat an Olympic gold medal performance, although victory in Tokyo was in a combined event which then included all three disciplines: boulder, lead and speed. To the satisfaction of pure climbers, the event has since been modified by the IFSC and International Olympic Committee (IOC), now consisting of a combined score from just boulder and lead. Speed will be contested as an additional medal event.

Sixteen-year-old Anastasia Sanders performed valiantly in boulder and lead, gaining valuable major event experience, while reaching the final and finishing eighth.

In addition to Raboutou’s bronze medal in the boulder event and fourth-place result in boulder and lead, she finished a solid fifth place in the individual lead event.

Earlier in the week, Raboutou’s U.S. teammate Emma Hunt swiftly ascended to a silver medal in the women’s speed event, punching her ticket to Paris 2024 in the new individual Olympic event. The 20-year-old from Georgia is the first Team USA climber to qualify for next summer’s Games.

Raboutou’s friend and training partner, Natalia Grossman, the 2019 boulder world champion, finished fifth in boulder and barely missed qualifying for the final in boulder and lead.

Raboutou will chalk up the near miss to experience, with the next opportunity to qualify for Paris 2024 coming at the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, Oct. 21-24.

“I’m definitely going to take some time to decompress from this event, but there are a lot of good takeaways throughout the whole event. I made it through every round and fought really hard and I know I’ll come out having learned a lot, once I process everything.”

The U.S. climber commended Swiss organizers in Bern, for a smooth and successful world championships, encompassing 428 athletes from 54 countries, competing across eight medal events with 10 Olympic quotas available.

“It was really a seemless event – the volunteers were incredible, and all the athletes too. I’m disappointed now, but I had a blast out there,” she said.