Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Born | Brno, Czech Republic | February 5, 1993||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Education | Masaryk University | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Occupation | Professional rock climber | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 186 cm (6 ft 1 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 70 kg (154 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Spouse | Iva Ondra | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Website | www | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Climbing career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Type of climber | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ape index | +1cm (0.4 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Highest grade | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Known for | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
First ascents |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Updated on April 19, 2021. |
Adam Ondra (born February 5, 1993) is a Czech professional rock climber, specializing in lead climbing, bouldering, and competition climbing. In 2013, Rock & Ice described Ondra as a prodigy and the leading climber of his generation. [1] Ondra is the only male athlete to have won World Championship titles in both disciplines in the same year (2014) and is one of the two male athletes (alongside Sorato Anraku in 2023) to have won the World Cup series in both disciplines (lead climbing in 2009, 2015, and 2019 and bouldering in 2010).
At age 13, Ondra redpointed his first graded 9a (5.14d) sport route. Rock & Ice noted that by 2011, he was "onsighting 5.14c's by the handful", and by 2013, had "more or less repeated every hard route in the world—easily". [1] By end 2018, Ondra had climbed 1,550 sport routes between grades 8a (5.13b) and 9c (5.15d), of which one was a 9c (5.15d), three were 9b+ (5.15c), and three were onsights of 9a (5.14d). [2]
Ondra is the first climber to redpoint a route with a proposed grade of 9c (5.15d) ( Silence , 2017), [3] the first-ever climber to redpoint a 9b+ (5.15c) route (Change, 2012), [4] the first-ever to flash a 9a+ (5.15a) route (Supercrackinette, 2018), and the second ever to onsight a 9a (5.14d) route (Cabane au Canada, 2013). [5] According to The Economist, Ondra is "regarded as possibly the best climber ever to fondle rock". [6]
Ondra started climbing at the age of six; his parents are climbers, and they shared their passion with him. In 1999, at age six, in Rovinj, Croatia, Ondra climbed a 6a (5.10a) route with bolts every half meter. He quickly rose to fame, appearing in climbing magazines as his accomplishments became both more impressive and frequent:
In 2007 and 2008, he won the IFSC World Youth Championship, category Youth B. In 2009, at age sixteen, Ondra competed for the first time in the Lead Climbing World Cup, finishing ahead of Spanish Patxi Usobiaga and Japanese Sachi Amma. [8] In 2010, he won the Bouldering World Cup, beating Austrian climber Kilian Fischhuber and Tsukuru Hori from Japan, becoming the first athlete in history to win the World Cup in both disciplines (lead and bouldering). [9]
Ondra failed to qualify for the 2020 Summer Olympics at the 2019 IFSC Climbing World Championships, as he was disqualified for accidentally toeing a bolt during the lead climbing portion of the combined event. [10] However, at the Olympic qualifying event in Toulouse later that year, he managed to secure a place in the Olympic Games, [11] despite falling ill after reaching the finals of the event.
In April 2021 Ondra won gold in the bouldering discipline at the IFSC World Cup in Meiringen, Switzerland. This marked his 20th World Cup gold medal. [12] In August 2021, Ondra finished in sixth place at the 2020 Summer Olympics. [13]
During a March 2011 trip to Spain, Ondra became the second-ever person to onsight a 8c+ (5.14c) route, after Patxi Usobiaga. [14] On October 4, 2012, Ondra redpointed Change in the Hanshelleren Cave, Flatanger, Norway, the world's first-ever route to receive a grade of 9b+ (5.15c). [4] [15]
On February 7, 2013, Ondra ascended La Dura Dura in Oliana, Catalonia, Spain, his second 9b+ (5.15c) after Change. He worked on this project with American climber Chris Sharma, and the first ascent took Ondra nine weeks. [16] On February 9, 2013, two days after La Dura Dura, Ondra succeeded in the second ascent of the 9b (5.15b) route, Fight or flight, first climbed by Sharma in 2011. [17] On July 9, 2013, Ondra realized the second-ever onsight of a 9a (5.14d) route in history, after Alexander Megos, with the ascent of Cabane au Canada in Rawyl, Switzerland. [5]
On November 21, 2016, Ondra completed the second free ascent of the 1,000-metre granite route, The Dawn Wall, a 32-pitch grade 5.14d (9a) big wall climbing route at El Capitan in the Yosemite Valley. The route was widely regarded as the hardest big wall climbing route in the world. Ondra led every pitch and completed the project in 8 days (the first ascenders, Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson alternated leads, and spent 19 days on the wall). [18]
On April 23, 2017, Ondra set a new highpoint for Black Diamond's The Project indoor sport route in Stockholm, Sweden, which is believed to be the hardest in the world. [19]
On September 3, 2017, after about 4 years of dedicated work and training, Ondra climbed Silence , in the Hanshelleren Cave in Flatanger, Norway. Silence was the world's first-ever route to have a proposed grade of 9c (5.15d). [3] On February 10, 2018, Ondra completed the world's first-ever flash of a confirmed 9a+ (5.15a) route with his ascent of Super Crackinette in Saint-Léger du Ventoux, France. [20]
Discipline | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2021 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lead | 1 | 3 | 57 | - | 11 | 3 | 1 | 23 | 27 | 31 | 1 | 31 |
Bouldering | 15 | 1 | - | - | - | 24 | 3 | - | - | - | 2 | 3 |
Speed | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
Combined | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | 2 | 1 | - | 65 | - | 2 | - |
Youth [22]
Discipline | 2007 Youth B | 2008 Youth B | 2009 Youth A |
---|---|---|---|
Lead | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Adult [22]
Discipline | 2009 | 2011 | 2012 | 2014 | 2016 | 2018 | 2019 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lead | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
Bouldering | - | 2 | - | 1 | 2 | 17 | 6 |
Speed | - | 70 | - | - | - | 81 | 58 |
Combined | - | - | - | - | - | 2 | 18 |
Discipline | 2010 | 2013 | 2015 | 2017 | 2019 | 2022 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lead | 2 | - | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Bouldering | 2 | - | 2 | - | - | 3 |
Discipline | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lead | 3 | 3 | 5 | - | ||||
Duel | 1 | 2 | - | 1 | 1 | |||
KO Boulder | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 |
Season | Category | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2007 | Youth B | 5 | 5 | ||
2008 | Youth B | 5 | 5 | ||
Total | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
Season | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|
2009 | 4 | 4 | ||
2010 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
2011 2012 | 0 | |||
2013 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
2014 | 3 | 3 | ||
2015 | 2 | 2 | 4 | |
2016 | 0 | |||
2017 | 1 | 1 | ||
2018 | 0 | |||
2019 | 3 | 3 | ||
2020 | 1 | 1 | ||
2021 | 0 | |||
2022 | 1 | 1 | ||
2023 | 1 | 1 | ||
Total | 16 | 6 | 1 | 23 |
Season | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|
2009 | 1 | 1 | ||
2010 | 3 | 2 | 5 | |
2011 2012 2013 | 0 | |||
2014 | 1 | 1 | ||
2015 | 2 | 2 | ||
2016 2017 2018 | 0 | |||
2019 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
2021 | 2 | 2 | ||
2022 | 0 | |||
2023 | 1 | 1 | ||
Total | 6 | 6 | 3 | 15 |
The table below shows the large number of routes graded 8a (5.13b) or more ascended by Adam Ondra in about 16 years, from August 2, 2002 (when he redpointed his first 8a) to November 10, 2018. [2] The total number is 1554, of which one was at 9c (5.15d) and 725 were onsighted, including four onsights at 9a (5.14d) and one flash at 9a+ (5.15a). [2]
Grade | Redpoint | Flash | On-sight | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|
9c (5.15d) | 1 | 1 | ||
9b+ (5.15c) | 4 | 4 | ||
9b (5.15b) | 20 | 20 | ||
9a+ (5.15a) | 39 | 1 | 40 | |
9a (5.14d) | 101 | 2 | 4 | 107 |
8c+ (5.14c) | 124 | 1 | 21 | 146 |
8c (5.14b) | 110 | 1 | 61 | 172 |
8b+ (5.14a) | 96 | 4 | 85 | 185 |
8b (5.13d) | 108 | 19 | 143 | 270 |
8a+ (5.13c) | 82 | 17 | 207 | 306 |
8a (5.13b) | 65 | 35 | 205 | 305 |
Total | 750 | 80 | 725 | 1555 |
9c (5.15d):
9b+ (5.15c):
9b (5.15b):
9a+ (5.15a):
9a (5.14d):
8c+ (5.14c):
8c (5.14b):
Ondra won the bouldering gathering Melloblocco in 2008, [66] 2009 [67] 2010 [68] and 2011. [69]
He climbed 293 boulder problems between 8A (V11) and 8C+ (V16). [70] Specifically:
8C+ (V16):
8C/8C+ :
8C (V15):
Chris Omprakash Sharma is an American rock climber who is considered one of the greatest and most influential climbers in the history of the sport. He dominated sport climbing for the decade after his 2001 ascent of Realization/Biographie, the world's first-ever redpoint of a consensus 9a+ (5.15a) graded route, and ushered in what was called a "technical evolution" in the sport. Sharma carried the mantle of "world's strongest sport climber" from Wolfgang Güllich, and passed it to Adam Ondra.
David Ethan Graham is an American professional rock climber. Professing to enjoy bouldering the most, he is one of the elite sport climbers and boulderers of his generation. Graham repeats classic routes or boulder problems as well as performing cutting-edge first ascents. He is known for climbing in 2005 an 8C (V15) graded boulder problem called The Story of Two Worlds, in Cresciano, Switzerland). He is also known for his stance against grade inflation and for his strong anti-chipping ethic. He writes an ongoing blog for the website of Climbing Magazine.
Fred Rouhling is a French rock climber and boulderer, noted for creating and repeating some of the earliest grade 9a (5.14d) sport climbing routes in the world, including Hugh in 1993, the first-ever French 9a (5.14d) sport route. Rouhling is also known for the controversy from his proposed grading of 9b (5.15b) for his 1995 route Akira, which would have made it the world's first-ever 9b-graded sport route; 25 years later, it was graded at 9a (5.14d).
Steve McClure is a British rock climber and climbing author, who is widely regarded as Britain's leading and most important sport climber for a period that extends for over two decades, starting from the late 1990s. In 2017, he created Rainman, Britain's first-ever 9b (5.15b) sport route, and by that stage was responsible for developing the majority of routes graded 9a (5.14d) and above in Britain. Although mainly known for sport climbing, McClure has also been one of the most successful British traditional climbers, and British onsight climbers.
Josune Bereziartu, also known as Josune Bereciartu Urruzola, is a Basque rock climber. For a decade starting in the late 1990s, she was considered the strongest female sport climber in the world and is regarded as one of the most important female rock climbers in history.
Ramón Julián Puigblanque is a professional Spanish rock climber specializing in competition lead climbing and sport climbing. He won two World Championships, in 2007 and 2011, three European Championships, in 2004 2010 and 2015, and one Lead Climbing World Cup in 2010. From 2001 to 2016, he participated in 16 seasons of the World Cup, winning 21 World Cup stages. He has also redpointed several sport routes above 9a (5.14d), and made the first free ascent of La Rambla.
Angela "Angy" Eiter is an Austrian professional rock climber who specialises in competition climbing and sport climbing. In competition lead climbing, she won three IFSC World Cups in a row (2004–2006), and four IFSC World Championships. In 2011, she achieved her 25th win in World Cup and her 42nd podium. She is also one of the strongest sport climbers in the world, and in 2017, became the first-ever female in history to climb a 9b (5.15b) route, La Planta de Shiva. In 2020, she became the first-ever female in history to complete the first free ascent (FFA) of a 9b (5.15b) route, Madame Ching.
Ethan Pringle is an American rock climber with notable ascents in sport climbing, in traditional climbing, and in bouldering. He has also been active in competition climbing, winning the American national competition lead climbing championships in both youth and adult formats, and silver at the World Youth Championships.
Alexander Megos is a German rock climber specializing in sport climbing, bouldering and competition climbing. In 2013, he became the first-ever climber to onsight a 9a (5.14d) graded route. He has made the first free ascent (FFA) of some of the hardest sport climbing routes in the world, including two 9b+ (5.15c) routes, three 9b (5.15b) routes, and several boulders with a boulder 8C (V15) rating.
La Dura Dura is a 50-metre (160 ft) sport climbing route on the multi-coloured limestone cliffs known as the Contrafort de Rumbau, which are part of the Roc de Rumbau mountain, that lies in Oliana, Spain. The route was bolted and developed by American climber Chris Sharma in 2009 who had almost given up believing he could climb it until a collaboration with Czech climber Adam Ondra led to Ondra climbing the route on 7 February 2013, followed by Sharma on 23 March 2013.
Jakob Schubert is an Austrian professional rock climber, specializing in competition climbing, sport climbing, and bouldering. He was four times World Champion and three times World Cup winner in lead climbing. In August 2021, he won bronze at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. As of the end of 2022, Schubert had won the most men's IFSC gold medals of any male competition climber in history. In addition to competition climbing, Schubert is the only climber in the world to have redpointed a 9c (5.15d) graded sport climbing route and climbed a 9A (V17) graded bouldering problem.
Stefano Ghisolfi is an Italian professional rock climber, who specializes in competition climbing, sport climbing, and bouldering. In competition climbing, he completes in competition lead climbing, competition bouldering, and competition speed climbing, with lead being his strongest discipline. As a sport climber, he has redpointed sport climbing routes of grade 9b+ (5.15c), onsighted routes of 8c (5.14b), and solved boulder problems at grade 8B+ (V14). In December 2018, after climbing Perfecto Mundo, he became the fourth climber in history to redpoint a 9b+ (5.15c) route.
Sachi Amma is a Japanese professional rock climber and sport climber. He won the IFSC Climbing World Cup twice, in 2012 and 2013.
Patxi Usobiaga Lakunza, best known as Patxi Usobiaga, is a Spanish professional rock climber, sports climber and boulderer. He is known for winning two Lead Climbing World Cups in a row, and for being the first-ever climber in history to onsight an 8c+ (5.14c) route.
Silence, is a 45-metre (148 ft) overhanging sport climbing route in the granite Hanshelleren Cave, in Flatanger, Norway. When Czech climber Adam Ondra made the first free ascent on 3 September 2017, it became the first rock climb in the world to have a proposed climbing grade of 9c (5.15d), and it is an important route in rock climbing history. To complete the route, Ondra undertook specialist physical and mental training to overcome its severely overhanging terrain. As of March 2024, Silence remains unrepeated.
Laura Rogora is an Italian rock climber who specializes in sport climbing and in competition climbing. In 2021, she became the third-ever female climber in history to redpoint a 9b (5.15b)-graded sport climbing route, with her ascent of Erebor in Italy.
Sébastien Bouin, nicknamed Seb Bouin, is a French rock climber born in Draguignan. By 2022, Bouin is regarded as one of the strongest sport climbers in the world, being only the second-ever climber to establish a route graded 9c (5.15d), with DNA in 2022, and one of only a handful of climbers to create a new route at the grade of 9b+ (5.15c). Bouin is also regarded for his documentary series on the history of extreme sport climbing in France.
William (Will) Bosi is a Scottish professional rock climber specializing in sport climbing, bouldering and competition climbing. Bosi is only the second British sport climber in history to redpoint a 9b (5.15b) graded sport climbing route, and by 2023, was one of only a small group of climbers in the world to have completed a V17 (9A) boulder.
Jonathan Siegrist is an American rock climber who is regarded as one of the world's most prolific extreme sport climbers, and who has redpointed, and made numerous first free ascents, of a large number of sport climbing routes at and above the grade of 9a (5.14d). Siegrist's breadth of experience at the world's most extreme sport climbing grades, means that he is often looked to for guidance regarding the grading of extreme sport routes in America. While principally known as a sport climber, he has also repeated some of the world's hardest traditional climbing routes.