Sean Bailey (climber)

Last updated
Sean Bailey
2019 Sport & Speed Open Nationals - Awards - Sean Bailey - 01.jpg
Bailey in 2019
Personal information
Born (1996-05-20) May 20, 1996 (age 27)
Shoreline, Washington, U.S.
Height163 cm (5 ft 4 in) [1]
Climbing career
Type of climber
Highest grade
Medal record
Event1st2nd3rd
World Cup 311
World Cup (Season)
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg2021Lead

Sean Bailey (born May 20, 1996) 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, [2] 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 [3] and three in lead climbing, including two gold medals, at the Villars leg, [4] and Chamonix leg, [5] in July 2021.

Contents

Early life and youth competitions

Bailey was born in Shoreline, Washington [6] and began climbing at age 5 with parents, who were both climbers. [7] He began competing with the youth team at the Vertical World climbing gym and won the USA Climbing Sport Climbing Series Youth National Championship at age 17. [7]

Climbing career

Competition climbing

Bailey at the 2018 IFSC Climbing World Championships in Innsbruck Climbing World Championships 2018 Lead Semi Bailey (BT0A3943).jpg
Bailey at the 2018 IFSC Climbing World Championships in Innsbruck

At age 17, Bailey won the 2013 American Bouldering Series, the senior national bouldering competition series in the United States. [7]

Bailey has five IFSC World Cup podium finishes, first place in boulders at Salt Lake City in 2021 [8] and in lead at Villars [4] and Chamonix [5] in 2021, and second place at Vail in 2018. [9] Bailey finished the Lead World Cup season in second place overall. [10] In July 2022, he made his first podium finish of the 2022 IFSC Climbing World Cup series with a bronze medal in lead at Chamonix. [11]

In 2019, Bailey finished ninth at the Olympic qualifying event in Toulouse, one place short of securing a spot at the 2020 Summer Olympics, [12] and finished fourth at the 2020 IFSC Pan-American Continental Championships in March 2020, missing a place at the 2020 Olympics at his final opportunity. [13]

He also won the USA Climbing Lead National Championship (formerly USA Climbing Sport and Speed Nationals) in 2016, 2018 [14] and 2022, [15] and the 2019 Bouldering Nationals. [16]

Sport climbing

In June 2016, Bailey sent Chris Sharma's Realization/Biographie , a famous 5.15a  (9a+) route in Céüse, France. [17] He sent another 5.15a in March 2019, Joe Mama in Oliana, Spain. [18]

In September 2021, Bailey sent Bibliographie , a 5.15c  (9b+) route just a few meters away from his previous project, Biographie, in Céüse. The route was first climbed by Alex Megos in 2020 and was repeated by Stefano Ghisolfi earlier in 2021. [19]

Bouldering

In 2020, he sent two V16  (8C+) boulders, Box Therapy in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, in October [20] and Grand Illusion in Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah, in November. [21] Earlier that year, Bailey sent his first V15  (8C) boulder, Pegasus in Joe's Valley, Utah. [22]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Sharma</span> American rock climber

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Realization (climb)</span> Sport climbing route in France

Realization, also called Biographie, is a circa 35-metre (115 ft) sport climbing route on a limestone cliff on the southern face of Céüse mountain, near Gap and Sigoyer, in France. After it was first climbed in 2001 by American climber Chris Sharma, it became the first rock climb in the world to have a consensus grade of 9a+ (5.15a). It is considered an historic and important route in rock climbing, and one of the most attempted climbs at its grade.

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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.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stefano Ghisolfi</span> Italian rock climber (born 1993)

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References

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