Speed climbing is a climbing discipline in which speed is the ultimate goal. Speed climbing is done on rocks, walls and poles and is only recommended for highly skilled and experienced climbers.
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.
Shauna Coxsey is an English professional rock climber. She is the most successful competition climber in the UK, having won the IFSC Bouldering World Cup Season in both 2016 and 2017. She retired from competition after competing in the 2020 Olympics., and continues to climb at a high level outdoors.
Dmitri Sarafutdinov, also known as Dmitrii Sharafutdinov, is a professional Russian rock climber and competition climber who specializes in competition bouldering. He has won three World Championships, in 2007, 2011 and 2012 and one Bouldering World Cup in 2013.
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.
Reza Alipour Shenazandifard is an Iranian competition speed climber from Qazvin.
Jakob Schubert is an Austrian professional rock climber, specializing in competition climbing, sport climbing, and bouldering. He is a four-time World Champion and three-time World Cup winner in lead climbing. He is a two-time Olympic bronze medalist in the combined event.
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.
Tomoa Narasaki is a Japanese professional rock climber who specializes in bouldering and competition bouldering.
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.
Aleksandra (Ola) Mirosław is a Polish soldier and competition speed climber. She is a two-time women's speed world champion as well as the current women's competition speed climbing world record holder. Mirosław won the gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in the speed climbing event, becoming the first ever Olympic champion in this event.
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.
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 won gold and silver at the 2021 IFSC Climbing World Championships, and has 19 podium finishes at World Cup events, including nine golds. In October 2023, Grossman qualified for the 2024 Olympic games in Paris by winning the boulder & lead combined competition at the 2023 Pan American Games.
Veddriq Leonardo is an Indonesian competition climber who specializes in competition speed climbing. He has held the world record for the discipline for about a year twice, first after setting it en route to winning the men's speed climbing event at the 2021 IFSC Climbing World Cup in Salt Lake City, and again at the 2023 IFSC Climbing World Cup in Seoul. He is the current Olympic champion, having won speed climbing in 2024, thus becoming the first Indonesian non-badminton Olympic gold medalist.
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.
Hamish McArthur is an English professional rock climber and competition climber, who specialises in competition bouldering and competition lead climbing events.
Kiromal Katibin is an Indonesian competition climber who specializes in competition speed climbing. He was the world record holder in speed climbing, with a time of 5.009 seconds recorded at 2022 IFSC Climbing World Cup in Chamonix, France in July 2022, until it was broken by his compatriot Veddriq Leonardo in April 2023. He finished second overall in the men's speed category during the 2021 IFSC Climbing World Cup series. Katibin also has four career IFSC Climbing World Cup medals, all in speed.
Emma Hunt is an American competition climber who specializes in competition speed climbing, and holds the American women's speed record with 6.301 seconds, set at the USA Climbing North American Cup in Salt Lake City in April 2024.
Wu Peng is a Chinese competition speed climber. He represented China at the 2024 Summer Olympics and won a silver medal in the men's speed event.
Julian David is a competition speed climber from New Zealand. He represented New Zealand at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
