The Crux Episode 1 | Full Episode | National Geographic

Traditionally, climbers are seen as very friendly, lovely people. I love the climbing community, and it's just so beautiful. Everyone in the competitions really feels like close friends to me; I love the atmosphere. I love the camaraderie. I love my teammates and my friends on the circuit. And you know, this place wouldn't be the same without them.

And although I think on a surface level, everyone is friendly and nice to each other, there's something going on at the moment. Climbing is changing. We're going from a sport that was very niche into this thing where there's big corporations involved, there's more money coming into it, and there's more attention on those athletes. There's twists happening.

I think there is a little bit of romanticization about, like, this whole climbing community. Since I started climbing, I hate losing. When you are in the comp, you are not friends. But it makes a difference in a competition. Is your wish for being the best in the world? On the World Cup circuit? We've been all over the world this year. This is the most intense season I've ever experienced.

You're always preparing for a new challenge. Every route is completely different. The routes that we are trying at these competitions we have never seen before, we have never tried before. We're also in this period of build-up towards the Olympics. If you win an Olympic medal, you cement yourself in history. If I was an athlete, I would sacrifice everything.

And now we are celebrating the opening of the International Climbing and Paraclimbing World Championships. This is the first qualifying event for the Olympics. The best athletes from each country are here. There are some teams that historically do very well. The Slovenian team is completely dominant.

Janja Garnbret from Slovenia. She's the Olympic champion. I basically have to win. It's just something that you have or you don't. The Japanese team. Everyone knows how good the Japanese athletes are. Having been in the Olympics makes me want to compete again. But recently, we're seeing other countries step up to the mark a little bit. And the French team especially is one of those. Oriane Bertone, for example.

She has this thing about her; she doesn't give a shit. Basically, I am going to be the center of attention for a while. So now is my moment, and this is me. So the Ukrainian athletes, they are going through the most horrendous time of their athletic and personal careers. They can't live in their own country.

So right now in Kiev, there is an air attack that is happening right now while we are here on the opening ceremony. We are proud to be here. It’s good to represent Ukraine. So if a Ukrainian athlete was to qualify for the Olympics, you're proving something more than just sport. You're proving that your people haven't been beaten.

So when you see the game face of Jenya, something changes in her entire personality, and she takes on all of that responsibility. And that adds a whole new dimension. Yeah. It's two groups, right? So it's 13 people moving on from each group. And how many people in total? It's 120.

Oh, it's real. I do not count eight athletes that are better than Jenya, but Jenya is very emotional when things are at the highest kind of intense level. She still doesn't trust it. All right. Okay. See ya. See ya. Indy Alannah. Because there's limited amounts of Olympic places given to each country, these athletes are starting to compete against athletes in their own countries.

If you're on the same team. But are you rooting for them? We are three of the four Canadian women in the combined, and only the top three at this event get to go to the next Olympic qualifier. I think we're all like elite athletes where we've made it to where we are because we are competitive.

So, I had two years of pretty bad results and not enjoying competitions anymore, really questioning why I'm doing this. So I want to go through with the whole process of trying to qualify for the Paris Olympics. But either way, if I qualify or if I don't, I'm done with comps after this year. And this is their last opportunity to make a mark on that Olympic stage.

There are two main disciplines in comp climbing: boulder and lead. Boulder has short, intense routes, so the physical element really comes into bouldering. You've got four different boulders in each round, and you've got five minutes to complete each one. And you can have as many attempts as you want within those five minutes. Your competitors are on the boulder next to you, and it's about getting to the top as quickly as you can.

Lead climbing is a single route with a rope, and it's more about endurance. In lead, you've only got one chance to get to the top, so once you fall off, you're done. You've got to compete in boulder, and you've got to compete in lead. The scores combined move forward into a semifinal. We then whittle that down to just eight athletes, and out of those eight athletes, only three can win an Olympic ticket.

The World Championships only happen every two years. Of course, it's the biggest event of the year. It's the most prestigious event to win. The scale is unlike anything else that you've experienced at any other World Cup. Good. You can feel it. You can feel everybody's on their nerves.

It's the cream of the cream's; best out of the best people in the world. It’s the event that everyone is preparing for. And the stakes are high. When you feel how thousands of people are behind you and all their eyes on you. Yeah. What do you do with that pressure? Do you show up with everything you have, or do you freeze?

You're waiting behind the wall, and the time is ticking down for your attempt to start. And you can hear the roar of the crowd. And then the second the curtain opens and you get to run out. There's brand new climbs for every round of every competition, and it's about figuring them out quickly. Going for this goal to qualify for the Olympics has a whole lot more meaning to me.

I just really want to hold the Ukrainian flag and, you know, make my country and Ukrainians proud. Before going to the Olympics, I did not feel a lot of pressure. Now I'm an Olympian. I feel like people expect a lot more of me. I know that the last Olympics, she wasn't happy, and she feels that she wants to prove that she can be way better than the result that she showed.

It's been hard like this years. Like she's the strongest she's ever been. I know that she knows that. But maybe that brought in a little bit more pressure. Good fight. Come on. Lots of time. Come up. Good. Good. Good. Let's go. So much drama. She needs a top because her attempts took too much.

It's going to be hard, but I got to believe she's had a rough season. But this was her best climb so far. Wow. This is going to be it. And I knew it was my last standalone boulder event. And I wanted to go out there and climb my heart out. I didn't start climbing for fame or certainly not for money. I did it because I really loved it.

The boulder comps have been such a big part of my life and something that I really like, really enjoyed. Let's go. Oh my God. 25th. That's not bad. For me, it feels like the end of a big stage of my life. Or more that the stage in my life is winding down. And I took another step towards the end of my career.

Come on. You climbed amazing; you climbed amazing. I just wanted it to be different. I know, I know, but I didn't expect it to be different, but I wanted it to be. Hey, it was so good. It was so good. You had your best climbs this season. I’m so proud of you. That was great. That was great. You fought hard. You climbed smart. That was great.

It's a long way. I told you, it's a long way to go. A long way to go. I know I remembered why I loved boulder so much, which made me so happy. I feel like I'm rejuvenated a little bit as I move forward into the next step before qualification. So Janja Garnbret is the G.O.A.T. She's the best of all time. She's the most decorated climber ever.

And I think the statistics show she's one of the greatest athletes of all time. I was raised into a competitor since I was very young. Coaches saw that spark in me. I'm not allowed to have a day off, so every competition I enter, it's, I basically have to win. The demand to be perfect is hard to handle.

She had a horrendous injury in the beginning of the season. I had a hard beginning of the year. It was not easy at all with the injury. My first ever injury in career stakes are high here. You want to qualify here because then you can be relaxed, and you can just have a rest, and then start training again for the Olympics.

She's human, and she feels pressure as much as anyone else under those lights, with that crowd, with that pressure. She might make a mistake. Pressure is something that you face all the time when you compete at this level. One boulder at a time. I say to myself. Eyes on the wall. Everybody is talking about pressure, but I don't have anything.

It's stressful because, you know, there is some ambition of going to the Olympics, qualifying. I've been competing for so many years. The more you try to get in the zone, the less likely you'll get in the zone, but it's mostly about showing up and knowing that I can handle anything. There is nothing but now, but this moment.

All right, Jenya Kazbekova is on for Ukraine. Nice. Nice, nice. Come on. Incredible at the slab, and has been working hard to get strong on the more powerful boulders. Yeah, yeah. Come on. Good, good, good. Come on. Jenna about the mixed results this season, but really been building and building. Her focus is on making the games.

They were, like, lots of different expectations that I put on myself. It's all about my mindset. I can still turn it around. Jenya pulls on once more this chess game of a boulder problem. Nice, nice. Well, this is a big moment for Jenya here. She makes the top on the slab. Let’s go! Her movement is probably better than anybody.

And my job now is to remind her that she doesn't always need to shy away in terms of a better technique. And now she is sitting down at eight. At the moment I definitely think she needs that last top to have any chance. Really smooth through that first move there. Fighting to the end as she should; it's her last boulder.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. So she goes again with 30 seconds, but she’s going to have to be quick. Yes. Yeah. It’s okay. It’s okay. No, it’s not ******* okay. Big picture, it’s okay, Jenya. Which ******* big picture? What are you here for? I don’t ******* know.

Being a refugee and coming from Ukraine, it's been really ******* hard. You made one mistake today. Just one mistake. Yeah, well, that’s a costly ******* mistake. At the ******* most important event of the year. Yeah, exactly. - Yeah, great. Couldn’t I have ******* gotten it out of my system earlier?

This is what gives us more confidence for moving after. Sorry, confidence for what? That I suck? Jenya. Coming to the competitions and representing my country is the strongest thing that I can do for myself and for my country. I need to be successful, which means that I need to show up not only in qualification, but also in semifinal and also in final.

So people do talk, so people will remember. For me, the World Championships are over, but that's just part of the game. So the next chance is actually continental championship at the end of October. Although climbing is the athlete against the wall, it's also against the other athletes.

So because of this extra pressure, the attention, the money, perhaps this old way of looking at climbing where everyone is very friendly to each other, maybe that will change. So whether the athletes want it to happen or not, it is a natural progression. Let's see what happens.

Oriane Bertone is on from France; three minutes, 41 on the clock. Oriane catches the left hand. She will be really looking for a top here. Those points are going to be so important. Sliding off that left hand. Big surprise from Oriane; we don't see her fluster often. Now, the lady running on—oh, she simply is one of the best in the world.

But will pressure start to play its part in Janja Garnbret’s psychology? She is looking smooth right now. But Janja reaches out, pulls a dish. What finger strength to stick that? It is almost impossible to hold that move. I do wonder whether they're going to be feeling more pressured because they haven't had a good start.

And everybody's cheering on you. Oriane gets the right foot up, stands. Can she hit it this time? Adjust with the right hand. That's the match of the control. You can hear the atmosphere buzzing. I've seen it a few times. As much as I want to be a robot, I'm not.

I'm also a human being, and I have emotions; sometimes I have a better day, sometimes I have a worse day. I've never gotten to the point where I could get hurt, but it's just scary. I mean, I'm talking for everybody; nobody's not scared. Oriane is up. Hits that right foot.

And Oriane stepping that foot up. She's going to reach up into the ten. Really great use of her heels. Her flexibility, twisting and turning to get everything she can. But we don't see it because of a foot pop that was so unfortunate. The intensity of training. These guys are in the gym 40 plus hours a week, and it beats them up.

If they want to leave their place in the history books, they have to put themselves and their bodies through this. Any Olympic Games is special for any athlete, but if it's in your home country, that's a once-in-a-lifetime experience. So I cannot imagine the Paris Olympics. Crazy. Crazy. Yeah. That would be incredible.

What I want is to step on the mats and be an Olympian. Oriane Bertone comes out from France. Athlete number three to climb. She's perhaps more of a boulderer. And we know Oriane has been training speed. We know she's been fighting to get fitter on the route. Let's see what she can do. I've never been so strong in my life, and I'm ready to show myself.

That's I'm able to do big things. All eyes on her in the stadium as it goes eerily silent right now. This is my moment. This is my comp. This is what I train for. Crosses through; Oriane is into the scoring zone. Let's get some points on the board. See her fluster a little bit here.

She's chalking out, trying to breathe, trying to get her air flowing and trying to compose herself as much as possible. Makes the clip, gets that in. Almost misses in that hold. Doing a great job to stick it. Oh, okay. This is so nervy to watch. Has the left toe in.

Come on, Oriane; this is gutsy. Nearly dropped that. How is she on just the fingertips? All round from the other athlete. Every competition I enter, I basically start from zero. I just compete like I've never achieved anything in my life before. Of course, I also have doubts. I have those negative thoughts.

And when I come out, when I come in the spotlight in front of the people, all these doubts and negative thoughts really disappear and it’s just like basically me and the wall. Okay, well, we have our last climber out. Janja has work to do. Oh, and she strides towards the wall with a confidence I haven't seen yet. She wants to get it done here.

I keep telling myself this is just a normal day. Just go and do like you do in training. A small margin though, isn't it? One little mistake, one hand in the wrong place, a foot on the wrong metal hole. That's it. So I can't imagine the pressure climbing last at a world champs like this, with that much on the line.

If you saw my face, I was not there. I was, as I don't know, somewhere in my own world. It's just so confusing, and you don't actually know what you will actually do. You have to just try to figure it out. On the wall. So she needs to stay focused and calm as she moves through every single hold on this route.

Oh, it's a pop from Janja. Yeah, but she is in the first position. Wow, Janja Garnbret is the lead and boulder world champion. She is going to the Olympic Games. We all make sacrifices. We all train hard. I've been training for ten hours a day, eating, sleeping, and training, and I didn't do anything else.

I always say this is the path we've chosen. This is it. Everybody chooses their path in life. And this is what we chose. And we love it. Look what it means to them. Look how happy they are. Wow, what a magical moment our Olympians to be. Athletes want to win. That's why you do sport.

And climbing is no different from that. The person on top, they get all the attention. They get the sponsorship, they get to progress more. I didn't climb like I wanted to. They were stronger than me. And that round I wasn't training. No, I think I wasn't strong enough.

There are other opportunities to qualify for. Everybody has a chance, but I want to take it. So I'm going to take it. It was seeing a bit of a change of the guard. Some of the more veteran athletes have struggled. The older I get, the more like little injuries I have. And we're seeing very young kids coming up through the ranks.

One day, I will take the title of world champion. You just got to harness the crowd's kind of energy and then just put that into your climbing. I'm going all in tonight. I'm going to risk everything.