| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nationality | American | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | July 22, 2007 Fort Worth, Texas | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 162 cm (5 ft 4 in) [1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Climbing career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Type of climber | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Highest grade | 5.14a (8b+) (flash) [2] | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Anastasia "Annie" Sanders (born July 22, 2007) is an American rock climber who specializes in competition climbing.
In 2021, Sanders won gold medals in the bouldering, lead, and combined bouldering and lead events at the IFSC Climbing World Youth Championships. [3]
In 2022, Sanders repeated as Youth World Champion in bouldering. [4] She won the USA Climbing National Championships in both bouldering and lead, her first senior competition at age 15. [5] [6]
In 2023, Sanders again swept the competition at the 2023 USA Climbing National Team Trials, winning the bouldering, lead and combined events, thereby qualifying to compete as part of the United States national team on the international senior circuit at age 15-16. [7] Sanders reached two bouldering finals during the 2023 IFSC Climbing World Cup season, placing 4th in Salt Lake City and 5th in the Seoul, and reached the final of the combined bouldering and lead event at the 2023 IFSC Climbing World Championships, where she finished in eighth place. [1] [8]
In 2024, Sanders won her first World Cup medals, collecting one gold medal and one bronze medal in the Boulder World Cup and two bronze medals in the Lead World Cup. [9] [10] [11] [12]
She has made several outdoor ascents of sport climbing routes at grade 5.13 (7c+) or higher in the Red River Gorge in Kentucky, including a flash of Omaha Beach at 5.14a (8b+), in October 2021.
| Discipline | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Lead | 41 | 6 |
| Bouldering | 9 | 4 |
| Discipline | 2021 Youth B | 2022 Youth B |
|---|---|---|
| Lead | 1 | 17 |
| Bouldering | 1 | 1 |
| Speed | 11 | - |
| Combined | 1 | - |
| Discipline | 2023 Bern |
|---|---|
| Lead | 13 |
| Bouldering | 14 |
| Combined | 8 |
| Discipline | 2022 |
|---|---|
| Boulder | 1 |
| Lead | 1 |
| Season | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Total | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Season | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2 | 2 | ||
| Total | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
5.14a (8b+)
5.13c (8a+)
Competition climbing is a form of regulated rock climbing competition held indoors on purpose-built artificial climbing walls. The three competition climbing disciplines are lead climbing, bouldering, and speed climbing. The result of multiple disciplines can be used in a "combined" format to determine an all-round winner. Competition climbing is sometimes called "sport climbing", which is the name given to pre-bolted lead climbing.
USA Climbing is the national governing body of the sport of competition climbing in the United States. As a 501(c)3 non-profit, they promote Sport Climbing which comprises three competition disciplines: bouldering, lead climbing, and speed climbing, in elite, youth and collegiate formats.
Brooke Raboutou is a French-American professional rock climber who specializes in competition climbing where she competes as part of the US National Team. She won the silver medal in the combined bouldering and lead climbing event at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Janja Garnbret is a Slovenian professional rock climber who specializes in sport climbing and competition climbing. She has won multiple competition lead climbing and competition bouldering events, two Olympic gold medals, and is widely regarded as the greatest competition climber of all time. In 2021, Garnbret became the first-ever female Olympic gold medalist in climbing, and successfully defended her title in 2024. With two gold medals, she is the most successful Slovenian athlete at the Summer Olympics. She is also the world's first-ever female climber to onsight an 8c (5.14b) graded sport climbing route.
Competition climbing made its Olympic debut at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. Two events were held, one each for men and women. The format controversially consisted of one combined event with three disciplines: lead climbing, speed climbing and bouldering. The medals were determined based on best performance across all three disciplines. This format was previously tested at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics. The Olympic code for sports climbing is CLB.
Jessica Pilz is an Austrian professional rock climber who specializes in competition climbing. She won the bronze medal in the combined bouldering and lead climbing event at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Ai Mori is a Japanese professional rock climber who specializes in competition lead climbing and competition bouldering.
Seo Chae-hyun, also known as Chaehyun Seo, is a South Korean professional rock climber who specializes in competition climbing. She won the overall 2019 World Cup title in competition lead climbing in her senior debut season. In 2021 she won the IFSC World Championship in lead climbing. Seo is a two-time Olympian, having represented South Korea at the 2020 and 2024 Summer Olympics.
Nathaniel Coleman is an American professional climber who won the silver medal in men's combined sport climbing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. He became the first American male climber to qualify for the Olympic Games after advancing to the final at IFSC Combined Qualifier Toulouse 2019 in November–December, 2019, a qualifying event for the 2020 Games in Tokyo. On June 17, 2020, Coleman added the first ascent of The Grand Illusion (8C+/V16) in Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah (USA) to his list of accomplishments.
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.
Natalia Grossman is an American professional rock climber who specializes in competition climbing. She represents the United States at IFSC Climbing World Cup in competition bouldering and competition lead climbing. She has had 22 podium finishes at World Cup events, including 11 gold medals, and is the only climber to have won four consecutive overall titles in bouldering.
Sean Bailey is an American professional rock climber, who specializes in competition climbing, sport climbing, and bouldering. He has represented the United States in the IFSC Climbing World Cup in lead climbing, and has two podium finishes in bouldering at individual legs of the World Cup, including a win at the Salt Lake City leg of the 2021 World Cup.1 and three in lead climbing, including two gold medals, at the Villars leg, and Chamonix leg, in July 2021.
Colin Duffy is an American professional rock climber who specializes in competition climbing. At age 17, he became the youngest climber to qualify to compete at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Noah Bratschi is an American professional rock climber who specializes in competition speed climbing and represents the United States at IFSC Climbing World Cups. He won the bronze medal at the 2021 International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) World Championship in Moscow, Russia. With this accomplishment he became the first American speed climber to win a World Championship medal in thirty years, and with that, he also became the first American to ever win a medal on the modern IFSC homologated speed climbing wall.
Competition climbing at the 2024 Summer Olympics took place from 5 to 10 August at Le Bourget Sport Climbing Venue in Saint-Denis, returning to the program for the second time since the sport's official debut three years earlier in Tokyo 2020. The total number of medal events was doubled from two in the previous edition because the boulder-and-lead tandem had been separated from the speed format. Furthermore, the number of climbers increased from 40 to 68.
Samuel Watson is an American professional rock climber who specializes in competition speed climbing and represents the United States at IFSC Climbing World Cups. He holds the world record for the discipline at 4.74 seconds, accomplished at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France, where he took a bronze medal.
Sorato Anraku is a Japanese rock climber who specializes in competition lead climbing and competition bouldering. In 2023, Anraku became the first climber to win both the Lead Overall World Cup and Boulder Overall World Cup in his debut senior season. He also won the gold medal in the combined boulder and lead event at the 2022 Asian Games, held in October 2023. He won the silver medal in the combined boulder and lead event at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Toby Roberts is a British rock climber who specialises in competition climbing and in outdoor sport climbing. He is the youngest British climber to redpoint a 9a (5.14d)-graded sport climbing route. He is the 2024 Olympic champion in sport climbing.
Jesse Grupper is an American Olympic rock climber who specializes in competition climbing. In 2022, Grupper came in third overall in the 2022 IFSC Climbing World Cup in the competition lead climbing discipline. He earned the gold medal in the 2023 Pan American Championships in the combined boulder and lead climbing discipline. Grupper is competing for the United States at the 2024 Paris Olympics in Men's combined sport climbing on August 5, 7, and 9, 2024.
Lee Dohyun, also known as Dohyun Lee, is a South Korean rock climber who specializes in competition climbing, particularly in competition bouldering.
