Interview with Laura Rogora: new Italian women’s record 9a+

How are you? How have you been these last few months? Any special training?

These last few months have been a little unusual. For the first weeks of lockdown I could still go to the gym and then for more than a month I was at home and I spent time like everyone else: books, TV series, cooking… I also tried to train in the best possible way. I bought a bar to put in the door where I hung the beam.

How did your life as a climber start? How did you get into climbing?

I started with my dad. He has always been passionate about mountains and climbing and so when I was about 5 years old he started to take me sometimes to the cliff. When I was 7 years old we found a gym near home where thanks to my trainer (Alessandro Marrocchi) I got closer to competitive climbing and got where I am now.

You just set a new Italian women’s record at the crag: 9a+, Pure Dreaming Plus at Arco. How do you feel? Tell us a bit about this climb and the more complex and difficult points where you found yourself. Did you think it would take longer? Did you make a specific preparation?

Honestly, yes, I thought it would take longer. I started by rehearsing the second part of 9a and even that came faster than I thought. But I found the bouldering underneath very hard and I had never been able to do it continuously and I thought that even if I could get underneath I would still fall to the top on the key passage of 9a, but the first time I went through I went on the chain. I didn’t follow a specific preparation for this route.

Besides the motivation that undoubtedly pushes you to train hard, how important is it to have someone to support you on your route?

It’s certainly very important. I have to thank my parents who have supported me over the years both financially but also by often sacrificing their holidays for my races or training, my coach Alessandro without whom I would never have achieved these goals and the sponsors (Montura, Wildclimb and Camp) who have believed in me since I was little. A special thanks also goes to the state police who made it possible to turn this passion into a job in fact last year I joined the golden flames sports group.

Do you prefer climbing indoors or outdoors? What do you like about both?

I like both races and the cliff, and I couldn’t give either one up. The competitions give you unique emotions, I like all the preparation that is behind to get in shape for an event where there is only one chance of success. It can be very stressful but also gives great satisfaction. At the crag I like to be outdoors with friends and climb in a more relaxed way. I also use it to take satisfaction away from me when I’m in shape when I may not be able to compete.

Tokyo Olympics 2020 postponed. How was indoor training going for those? The discipline in which you find yourself best? 

I was very motivated and I was training more than I had ever done. At first I was saddened or saddened by the motivation but then I realized that it would be an opportunity to prepare myself even better especially for the disciplines where there is a lot of gap with the other opponents (speed and some types of bouldering).

How do you choose your sponsors? Do you feel you recognize yourself in their values? What do you like about them? 

With all my sponsors I have a great relationship that has been going on for many years. At the beginning maybe I chose them a little bit by chance also based on who was proposing themselves but I must say that I have always been very lucky and now I am proud to represent companies that besides good materials also have excellent values.

In climbing women are showing more and more how subtle the difference between man/woman in terms of sports performance is. Do you think that the differences that until now there have been, were generated by differences in physical or cultural strength?

Surely women can never reach men because physical strength plays a very important role in climbing. On rock, however, every route is different and on some pitches the difference gets thinner because in addition to strength other components come into play such as fluency and technique where women may have an advantage.

Upcoming projects?

It’s a bit difficult to make plans given the situation. If the races resume I’ll aim for the World Cup otherwise I hope to go climbing on the cliff, hopefully abroad.