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.
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.
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.
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.
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. He is nicknamed the "Persian Cheetah".
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.
Tomoa Narasaki is a Japanese professional rock climber who specializes in bouldering and competition bouldering.
Aries Susanti Rahayu is a competition climber athlete from Indonesia who specializes in competition speed climbing competitions. She has been nicknamed "Spiderwoman". She was the world record holder for women in speed climbing, which she achieved by clocking a time of 6.995 seconds at the 2019 IFSC Xiamen World Cup. Also, this made her the first woman to climb a speed wall in less than seven seconds.
The 2015 IFSC Climbing World Cup was held in 13 locations. Bouldering competitions were held in 5 locations, lead in 7 locations, and speed in 5 locations. The season began on 17 May in Central Saanich, Canada and concluded on 15 November in Kranj, Slovenia.
Iuliia Vladimirovna Kaplina is a Russian competition climber who has won multiple competition speed climbing events and set multiple world records. She was the world record holder in women's speed climbing until 6 August 2021, setting the record at the 2020 European Championships in Moscow (6.964).
The 2019 IFSC Climbing World Cup was held in 12 locations. Bouldering, lead and speed competitions were each held in 6 locations. The season began on 5 April in Meiringen, Switzerland with the first bouldering competition in the season, and concluded on 27 October in Inzai, Japan, with the last lead climbing competition in the season.
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.
The 2021 IFSC Climbing World Cup was the 33rd edition of the international sport climbing competition series, held in seven locations. There are 11 events: four bouldering, five lead, and two speed events. The season began on 16 April in Meiringen, Switzerland with the first bouldering competition in the season, and concluded on 4 September in Kranj, Slovenia. The International Federation of Sport Climbing had initially scheduled 18 events concluding on 31 October, but COVID-19 travel restrictions resulted in the cancellation of events in Xiamen and Wujiang in China, Jakarta in Indonesia and Seoul in South Korea.
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.
Competition speed climbing in the 2019 IFSC Climbing World Cup was held over six stages at six different locations, from 12 April to 20 October 2019. The top three in each competition received medals, and at the end of the season, the overall winners were awarded trophies. The overall winners were determined based upon points, which athletes were awarded for finishing in the top 30 of each individual event. Bassa Mawem won the men's seasonal title, YiLing Song won the women's seasonal title, and Russian Federation defended its national team title.
Speed climbing competitions at the 2021 IFSC Climbing World Cup are being held at two locations, from 28 May to 3 July 2021. The International Federation of Sport Climbing had originally scheduled six speed climbing events concluding on 31 October, but COVID-19 travel restrictions resulted in the cancellation of events in Xiamen and Wujiang in China, Jakarta in Indonesia and Seoul in South Korea.
The 2022 IFSC Climbing World Cup is the 34th edition of the international sport climbing competition series organised by the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC), held in 12 locations. There are 21 events: six bouldering, seven lead, seven speed, and one bouldering & lead combined events. The series began on 8 April in Meiringen, Switzerland with the first bouldering competitions of the season, and concluded on 22 October in Morioka-Iwate, Japan, which introduced the Boulder & Lead combined format that will be used at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
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.
Evgeny Vladimirovich Vaitcekhovsky is a Russian former competition speed climber. He won the 2005 IFSC World Championships, the European Championships in 2006 and 2008 and the Rock Master in 2007. He also took three overall titles in the world cup, in addition to 14 individual victories and four other overall podium finishes. In October 2012, he set the world speed climbing record in 5.88 seconds, which stood until August 2014.
