Personal information | |
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Nationality | South African |
Born | Sandton, South Africa | October 8, 2001
Education | Edith Cowan University (BS) |
Height | 1.60 m (5 ft 3 in) [1] |
Climbing career | |
Type of climber | |
Known for |
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Lauren Mukheibir (born October 8, 2001) [1] [2] is a South African rock climber who specializes in competition climbing. As of 2024, Mukheibir is the reigning female African Champion in the women's combined bouldering-and-lead category, and she will represent South Africa in that category at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Mukheibir was born in Sandton, South Africa, grew up in Bryanston, and began rock climbing when she was nine years old. [1] [2]
In 2021, Mukheibir became the African women's continental champion in boulder, lead, and speed climbing when she won first place at the IFSC Africa Continental Championships. [3] At the 2022 World Games in Birmingham, Alabama, Mukheibir placed 12th in the lead and speed categories and 11th in the bouldering category. [4] Mukheibir moved to Perth, Australia for her studies in 2023 where she trained for the African Olympic qualifiers with the help of South African coach Devin Sender and Australian coach Alan Pryce. [3] [5] She also participated in the Innsbruck stage of the 2024 IFSC Climbing World Cup in June 2024. [6]
Mukheibir won the women's combined category at the IFSC African Sport Climbing Olympic Qualifier in Pretoria in December 2023, qualifying her for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. [4] [6] She was the only female climber at the Qualifier to top the second problem in the boulder phase. [4] She will be one of four sport climbers representing South Africa at the 2024 Summer Olympics, where she will compete in the 'women's competition bouldering-and-competition lead climbing combined' event. [2] [7]
Mukheibir graduated cum laude from Edith Cowan University in Perth, Australia with a degree in marine biology. [2] She decided to study marine biology after volunteering in the Seychelles for a scuba diving programme in 2020. [5]
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.
The IFSC Climbing World Championships are the biennial world championship event for competition climbing that is organized by the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC). This event determines the male and female world champions in the three disciplines of competition climbing: competition lead climbing, competition bouldering, and competition speed climbing. Since 2012, a combined ranking is also determined, for climbers competing in all disciplines, and additional medals are awarded based on that ranking. The first event was organized in Frankfurt in 1991.
Brooke Raboutou is an American professional rock climber who specializes in competition climbing where she competes as part of the US National Team. She competed at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games and represents the United States at IFSC Climbing World Cups.
Janja Garnbret is a Slovenian professional rock climber who specializes in sport climbing and competition climbing, and who has won multiple competition lead climbing and competition bouldering events. In 2021, she became the first-ever female Olympic gold medalist in climbing and is widely regarded as the greatest competition climber of all time. 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 2018 IFSC Climbing World Championships for competition lead climbing.
Miho Nonaka is a Japanese competition climber who specializes in competition bouldering. She competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics, in Women's combined, winning a silver medal.
Futaba Ito is a Japanese professional rock climber, sport climber and boulderer. She participates in both bouldering and lead climbing competitions. She won the IFSC Climbing Asian Youth Championships in lead and bouldering events in 2016, as well as Bouldering Japan Cup in 2017. She participated in combined and speed events at the 2018 Asian Games.
The 2019 IFSC Climbing World Championships, the 16th edition, were held in Hachioji, Japan from 11 to 21 August 2019. The championships consisted of lead, speed, bouldering, and combined events. The paraclimbing event was held separately from 16 to 17 July in Briançon, France. The combined event also served as an Olympic qualifying event for the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Aleksandra (Ola) Mirosław is a Polish competition speed climber and a two-time women's speed world champion as well as the current women's competition speed climbing world record holder.
Ai Mori is a Japanese professional rock climber who specializes in competition climbing and the disciplines of competition lead climbing and competition bouldering. At the 2019 IFSC Climbing World Championships, she became the youngest Japanese athlete to finish in a podium place in the competition, third in lead. She has won Japan Cup titles in both bouldering and lead disciplines and has multiple IFSC Climbing World Cup podium finishes, including three gold medals in World Cup events in the 2022 season. At the 2023 IFSC Climbing World Championships, Mori won the gold medal in lead, becoming the first Japanese athlete to win a World Championships lead title.
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 August 2021 she represented South Korea at the 2020 Summer Olympics, where she was a finalist, and later that year won the IFSC World Championship in lead.
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.
Mia Krampl is a Slovenian rock climber who specialises in competition climbing. In 2019, she finished second in lead at the IFSC Climbing World Championships and qualified to compete at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games by finishing third at the IFSC Combined Qualifier in Toulouse. Krampl also has a pair of podium finishes at the IFSC World Youth Championships, as well as two gold and one bronze medal at the European Youth Championships.
Oceana Mackenzie, also known as Oceania Mackenzie, is an Australian rock climber and competition climber who specializes in competition bouldering. She competed in the 2020 Summer Olympics, coming 19th, and has qualified to compete in the 2024 Summer Olympics.
The 2019 IFSC Combined Qualifier was an Olympic Qualifying Event. It was held from 28 November to 1 December 2019 in Toulouse, France. It was organized by the French Federation of Sport Climbing and Mountaineering or FFME. The athletes competed in combined format of three disciplines: speed, bouldering, and lead, simulating the 2020 Olympics format. Six athletes per gender would qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics through this event. The winner for men was Kokoro Fujii and for women was Futaba Ito.
Competition climbing at the 2024 Summer Olympics is scheduled to run 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 will double from two in the previous edition, separating the boulder-and-lead tandem from the speed format. Furthermore, Paris 2024 will witness a significant rise in the number of sport climbers competing contrary to Tokyo 2020, expanding the roster size from 40 to 68.
In qualifying for the 2024 Summer Olympics, a total of 68 climbers, with an equal distribution between men and women, will compete across two separate competition climbing disciplines at these Games for the first time, namely: a unique competition bouldering-and-competition lead climbing combined event, and a separate competition speed climbing event.
Ievgeniia (Jenya) Serikivna Kazbekova is a Ukrainian competition climber, and a member of the 2024 Ukraine Olympic team.
Aniya Holder is a South African rock climber who specializes in competition climbing, particularly speed climbing. As of 2024, Holder is the reigning female African Continental Champion in women's speed climbing, and she will represent South Africa in that discipline at the 2024 Summer Olympics.