Lučka Rakovec - Competing Post-Thyroid Cancer

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Lučka is a lead climber from Slovenia who recently won bronze at the European championships and came back to the world climbing scene after undergoing cancer-removing surgery in 2025. In this episode, we’ll hear about how her cancer diagnosis affected her climbing, training, and mental health, we’ll learn about the Slovenian team, and we’ll put together a tier list for the worst things that can happen in a lead comp.

Guest links:
Lucka's Instagram (instagram.com/luckarakovec)

Reference links:

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Timestamps of discussion topics
0:00 - Intro
1:29 - Mad Rock Shoutout!!
2:24 - Finger injury before European champs
5:54 - Getting into climbing and competing
11:11 - Reading and memorizing the lead route
15:38 - Ranking the worst things to happen during a lead route
20:02 - Training plan
22:11 - Thyroid cancer diagnosis + emetaphobia
31:20 - How long it took to return to climbing
35:50 - The mental effect of returning to competition
38:56 - Does the Slovenian team train with Janja?
42:53 - Dating within the team
45:50 - 2028 Olympic hopes?
47:58 - Post-climbing plans?
53:12 - Future dog plans
56:53 - AUDIENCE Q: Are you afraid of falling?
1:00:15 - AUDIENCE Q: Previous Slovenian legends?
1:01:36 - AUDIENCE Q: How many routes and what difficulty in 1 session?
1:05:53 - Where to find Lucka