Shauna Coxsey (born 27 January 1993) is an English 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 ...

. 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 climbing after competing in the

2020 Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

Early life

Coxsey was born on 27 January 1993 in

Runcorn, Cheshire Runcorn is an industrial town and Runcorn Docks, cargo port in the Borough of Halton in Cheshire, England. Its population in 2011 was 61,789. The town is in the southeast of the Liverpool City Region, with Liverpool to the northwest across the ...

. She began climbing in 1997 at age four, inspired by a television broadcast of

Catherine Destivelle Catherine Destivelle (born 24 July 1960) is a French rock climber and mountaineer who is considered one of the greatest and most important female climbers in the history of the sport. She came to prominence in the mid-1980s for sport climbing by ...

climbing in

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...

Career

Coxsey was mainly active in

competition climbing A climbing competition (or comp) is usually held indoors on purpose built climbing walls. There are three main types of climbing competition: lead, speed, and bouldering. In lead climbing, the competitors start at the bottom of a route and must c ...

and has participated in several international competitions in

bouldering Bouldering is a form of free climbing that is performed on small rock formations or artificial rock walls without the use of ropes or harnesses. While bouldering can be done without any equipment, most climbers use climbing shoes to help sec ...

. She has won the British Bouldering Championships on multiple occasions. In 2012, she won the 9th edition of the

Melloblocco Melloblocco is an international bouldering competition, which is held annually in Val Masino Val Masino (Western Lombard dialect, Western Lombard: ''Val Màsen'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Sondrio in the Italy, Italian regio ...

and placed 2nd in the World Cup stages in Log-Dragomer and

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the ...

. She finished third in the 2012 Bouldering World Cup. In 2013, she cleanly ascended her first problem graded when she climbed ''Nuthin' But Sunshine'' in

Rocky Mountain National Park Rocky Mountain National Park is an American national park located approximately northwest of Denver in north-central Colorado, within the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. The park is situated between the towns of Estes Park to the east and ...

. In November, she was appointed one of the UK's first

British Mountaineering Council The British Mountaineering Council (BMC) is the national representative body for England and Wales that exists to protect the freedoms and promote the interests of climbers, hill walkers and mountaineers, including ski-mountaineers. The BMC ...

Ambassadors. In 2014, she placed second overall in the IFSC Bouldering World Cup, and fourth at the Bouldering World Championships in Munich. The same year, she became the third woman ever to boulder when she topped ''New Baseline'' in Magic Wood near the Swiss town of

Chur , neighboring_municipalities= Arosa, Churwalden, Tschiertschen-Praden, Domat/Ems, Felsberg, Malix, Trimmis, Untervaz, Pfäfers , twintowns = Bad Homburg (Germany), Cabourg (France), Mayrhofen (Austria), Mondorf-les-Bains (Luxembourg), ...

. In 2015, she won the British Bouldering Championships in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

and took first place at the Bouldering World Cup in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. Coxsey was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in the

2016 Birthday Honours The 2016 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as pa ...

for services to climbing. In late 2016, she suffered a shoulder injury which prevented her from competing in that year's Bouldering World Championships, despite topping the overall rankings in the Bouldering World Cup. She won four IFSC Climbing World Cups in Meiringen (SUI), Kazo (JPN), Innsbruck (AUT) and Sheffield (UK). At the World Cup in Munich (GER) she placed second. In 2017, she again won four Bouldering World Cup stages, in Meiringen (SUI), Kazo (JPN), Mumbai (IND) and Vail (USA). In Munich (GER) she again placed second and secured the overall 2017 title. In August 2019, she won two bronze medals at the

2019 IFSC Climbing World Championships 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 1 ...

in Hachioji, in bouldering and the combined event. During the finals of the combined event, she set a British women's

speed 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. Competition speed climbing, which takes place on a ...

record of 9.141 seconds, securing second place in the speed component of the combined ranking by winning races against Futaba Ito and

Miho Nonaka is a Japanese competition boulderer. She competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics, in Women's combined, winning a silver medal. Life Her father and sister introduced her to climbing when she was 9, and she competed in her first world cup aged 17 ...

before losing to Aleksandra Miroslaw. Additionally, by reaching the finals of the combined event, she secured a qualification spot for Tokyo's

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

, the first to include competitive climbing. When the Olympics was finally in 2021, she was recovering from a back injury, surgical treatment and rehabilitation. She came 10th in the competition. She planned to discontinue competitive climbing after the Olympics, but to continue as an elite-level rock climber. In 2022 she continued climbing on indoor climbing walls while pregnant with her first child. She worked with a specialist physiotherapist, and her husband who is also a climber, to assess the routes as her shape changed.

Rankings

World Cup

World Championships

Youth Adult

World Cup podiums

Bouldering

Outdoor bouldering

Coxsey is the first British woman to climb the V12, V13, and V14 grades. : :* ''New Base Line'' – Magic Wood (

SWI SWI may refer to: Places: * Switzerland (this is not the ISO 3166-1 code, which is CHE) * Swindon railway station (National Rail code SWI), serving Swindon, Wiltshire, United Kingdom In science and technology: * SWI-Prolog, a free implementatio ...

) – 12 July 2014 – First female ascent of Bernd Zangerl's Boulder (2002) : :* ''Ropes of Maui'' – Dinas Mot ( ) – 5 April 2016 – First female ascent (first ascent by Pete Robins, 2014) :* ''One Summer in Paradise'' – Magic Wood (

) – 3 July 2014 – Second female ascent (first ascent by Martin Keller, 2005) :* ''Zarzaparrilla'' – Albarracin (

ESP ESP most commonly refers to: * Extrasensory perception, a paranormal ability ESP may also refer to: Arts, entertainment Music * ESP Guitars, a manufacturer of electric guitars * E.S. Posthumus, an independent music group formed in 2000, ...

) – 31 March 2014 – First female ascent :* ''Nuthin But Sunshine'' – Lower Chaos (

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

) – 26 June 2013 – First female ascent (first ascent by Dave Graham, 2000)

References

External links

* *
Red Bull profile
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Coxsey, Shauna British rock climbers Female climbers Living people 1993 births Sportspeople from Runcorn Members of the Order of the British Empire Sport climbers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic sport climbers of Great Britain