François Legrand (born March 26, 1970) is a French professional

rock climber Rock climbing is a sport in which participants climb up, across, or down natural rock formations. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a usually pre-defined route without falling. Rock climbing is a physically and ...

who specializes in

sport climbing Sport climbing (or Bolted climbing) is a form of rock climbing that relies on permanent anchors (or bolts), permanently fixed into the rock for climber protection, in which a rope that is attached to the climber is clipped into the anchors to ...

and competition climbing, who is known for winning five

Lead Climbing World Cup The IFSC Climbing World Cup is a series of climbing competitions held annually and organized by the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC). The athletes compete in three disciplines: lead, bouldering and speed. The number of competit ...

s (1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1997), and three consecutive

Lead Climbing World Championship The IFSC Climbing World Championships are the biennial (i.e. held once every two years) world championship event for competition climbing that is organized by the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC). This event determines the m ...

s (1991, 1993, 1995). As of 2022, no other climber has matched his achievement in IFSC lead climbing, and as of the end of 2022, Legrand had won the third most IFSC gold medals of any competitive climber in history.

Climbing career

Son of a mountain guide, he spent a lot of time in the mountains since he was a boy. His parents wanted him to become a mountain guide, rather than a rock climber. However, in 1988, aged 18, he ran away and moved for some months into a cave in

Buoux Buoux ju̟ːksis a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. Located on the north side of the Luberon, the town is known for the high cliffs that surround it, making it a popular venue f ...

. In the same year, he began competing at a national level. In 1990, he moved to

Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Ais de Provença in classical norm, or in Mistralian norm, ; la, Aquae Sextiae), or simply Aix ( medieval Occitan: ''Aics''), is a city and commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. ...

, where he rented an apartment with his friend Yuji Hirayama. In 1990, aged 20, he won his first

s. During his career in competition climbing, which ended in 2003, Legrand won five

s (1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1997), three consecutive

s (1991, 1993, 1995) and four

Rock Master Rock Master is an international climbing competition held every year in Arco, Italy. The event takes place in two rounds: the first is an on-sight session and the second is called "after work". The final classification is given by the sum of th ...

s. As of 2022, no other climber was ever able to match this achievement. The second-ranking for the number of awarded

s is

Alexandre Chabot Alexandre Chabot (born December 27, 1981) is a French professional rock climber, specialising in lead climbing. He won three consecutive Lead Climbing World Cups and three consecutive Rock Masters. In France, he was awarded seven times the natio ...

, who won three consecutive times (2001, 2002, 2003). Since 2009, he is the coach for the French national youth team together with Rémi Samyn.

Rankings

Climbing World Cup

Climbing World Championships

Number of medals in the Climbing World Cup

Lead

Notable ascents

Redpointed routes

: :* ''Robi in the Sky'' - Calanques (FRA) - 2000 - First ascent : :* ''Necessary Evil'' - Virgin River Gorge (USA) - Fifth ascent in 2002 - Route bolted by Chris Sharma in 1997 :* ''Getto Booty'' -

Mount Charleston Mount Charleston, including Charleston Peak (Nuvagantu, literally "where snow sits", in Southern Paiute or Nüpakatütün in Shoshoni) at , is the highest mountain in both the Spring Mountains and Clark County, in Nevada, United States. It is ...

(USA) - 2000 - First ascent :* ''Hasta La Vista'' - Mount Charleston (USA) :* ''Le Bronx'' -

Orgon Orgon (; ancient: ''Urgonum'', ''Castrum de Urgone'') is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in southern France. Geography Neighbouring villages and small towns include Les Baux-de-Provence, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence and Cavaillon. Or ...

(FRA) :* ''La Connexion'' - Orgon (FRA) :* ''Reini's Vibe'' - Massone (ITA) :* ''Claudio Cafè'' - Terra Promessa (ITA) : :* ''Le Plafond'' - Volx (FRA) - His first 8c :* ''Maginot Line'' - Volx (FRA) :* ''Macumba Club'' - Orgon (FRA) :* ''Injustice'' - Orgon (FRA) :* ''U.F.O.'' - Calanques (FRA) :* ''Pterodactile'' - Tolone (FRA) :* ''Moutchiki'' - Luberon (FRA) :* ''Facile'' - Mount Charleston (USA)

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Legrand, François French rock climbers 1970 births Living people Sportspeople from Grenoble IFSC Climbing World Championships medalists IFSC Climbing World Cup overall medalists French competition climbers