Speed climbing is a

climbing Climbing is the activity of using one's hands, feet, or any other part of the body to ascend a steep topographical object that can range from the world's tallest mountains (e.g. the eight thousanders), to small boulders. Climbing is done fo ...

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 an artificial standardized climbing wall, is the main form of speed climbing. However, there are other variations of speed climbing that take place outdoors. In pure speed climbing, time is everything but it is also common to record speed ascents while observing a particular climbing style or ethic. For example, there are many speed records in which the climb was done according to

free climbing Free climbing is a form of rock climbing in which the climber may use climbing equipment such as ropes and other means of climbing protection, but only to protect against injury during falls and not to assist vertical or horizontal progress. Th ...

ethics. In popular culture speed climbing may be best known for a

viral video A viral video is a video that becomes popular through a viral process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhong Lan, Alexander Haupt ...

featuring

Dan Osman Daniel Eugene Osman (February 11, 1963 – November 23, 1998) was an American extreme sport practitioner, known for the dangerous sport of free-soloing, rock climbing without ropes or other safety gear. He participated in rope jumping, falling ...

climbing Lover's Leap via the '' Bear's Reach'' route (5.7, 120+ meter) in 4 min 25 sec. This clip was originally featured in the movie ''Masters of Stone IV''.

Competition speed climbing

Competition speed climbing as governed by the

International Federation of Sport Climbing The International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) is the international governing body for the sport of competitive climbing, which consists of the disciplines lead climbing, speed climbing, and bouldering. It was founded in Frankfurt on 27 Ja ...

(IFSC) takes place on artificial walls. Competitors climb a 5-degree overhanging IFSC-certified wall, with an auto-belaying system from the top of the wall. Since 2007 the IFSC has created a standard wall for the world record. The standard has a simple rule and it involves climbers competing on the same route, side by side, and whoever reaches the top first wins. The holds and order are always identical, and the difficulty rating is around F6b (approximately YDS 5.10c), which is a level most recreational climbers could complete. The IFSC also sanctions speed climbing competitions and those events that entail world record attempts. Speed climbing was one of the three climbing modalities included in the combined format at the

2020 Olympic Games 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 ...

in Tokyo, along with

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

and

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 ...

. Beginning at the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 2024), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la XXXIIIe Olympiade, links=no) and also known as Paris 2024, is an upcoming international multi-sport event that is s ...

in Paris, speed climbing will be its own standalone competition, separate from the lead and bouldering combined event. Time is determined by mechanical-electric timing (the competitor leaves the starting pad and strikes a switch at the top of the route). When mechanical-electric timing is used, the climbing time is displayed with an accuracy of one-hundredth of a second. In the rules modifications in 2018, the possibility to use manual timing was removed, and the mechanical-electric timing should record with a precision of 1/1000 second. This precision is only used for ranking in case of a tie. Further, the timing system needs to announce a false start, which is considered a start earlier than 0.1 seconds after the starting beep. File:Chamonix 2018 Jan Kriz.jpg, Two climbers compete against each other on the Speed Wall (Chamonix 2018) File:Climbing World Championships 2018 Speed (DSC09055).jpg, Full view of the standardized Speed Wall File:Climbing World Championships 2018 Speed Eighth-finals (BT0A6048).jpg, Start position. The climber stands on a pressure plate foot trigger, which is used for detecting false starts. File:Climbing World Championships 2018 Combined Final speed (BT0B0374).jpg, Hitting a button at the top of the wall stops the timer. The climber is secured by an auto-

belay Belaying is a variety of techniques climbers use to create friction within a climbing system, particularly on a climbing rope, so that a falling climber does not fall very far. A climbing partner typically applies tension at the other end of t ...

device. File:Climbing World Championships 2018 Combined Final speed (BT0B0407).jpg File:Speed climbing hold large.jpg, Large standardised speed climbing hold. File:Speed climbing hold small.jpg, Small standardised speed climbing hold.

World champions

The defending men's and women's speed climbing world champions are

Danyil Boldyrev Danyil Boldyrev ( uk, Данило Владиславович Болдирєв, born May 15, 1992, in Donetsk, Ukraine) is a Ukrainian speed climber. He is World champion, multiple World and European Championships medalist and 2017 World Games ...

of Ukraine and

Natalia Kałucka Natalia Kałucka (born 25 December 2001) is a Polish Sport climbing, sport climber. She competed at the 2021 IFSC Climbing World Championships, winning the gold medal in the IFSC Climbing World Championships#Women's Results, women's speed event. ...

of Poland, respectively; they won their respective speed events at the

2021 IFSC Climbing World Championships The 2021 IFSC Climbing World Championships was the 17th edition of the event. It was held in Moscow, Russia from 16 to 21 September 2021, alongside the 2021 IFSC Paraclimbing World Championships. Although the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) had ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, Russia.

Veddriq Leonardo Veddriq Leonardo (born 11 March 1997) is an Indonesian speed climber. For about a year he held the world record in his discipline, which he set en route to winning the men's speed climbing event at the 2021 IFSC Climbing World Cup in Salt Lake ...

of Indonesia and Emma Hunt of the United States were the overall men's and women's winners for the

2021 IFSC Climbing World Cup 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 ...

speed series.

World and Olympic records

Since Qixin Zhong of China ran the 15-meter standardized wall in 6.26 seconds in 2011, the world record has been broken 12 times, seven times in 2021 and 2022, most recently 5.009 seconds by

Kiromal Katibin Kiromal Katibin (born ) is an Indonesian sport climber specializing in speed climbing. He is the current 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 202 ...

of Indonesia in July 2022. That represents a drop of 20 percent since 2011. Similarly, the women's speed climbing record has been broken 14 times between 2013 and 2022, dropping from 7.85 seconds to the 6.53 seconds set by

Aleksandra Mirosław Aleksandra Mirosław (née Rudzińska, born 2 February 1994) is a Polish speed climber and a two-time women's speed climbing world champion as well as the current women's speed climbing world record holder. Early life Mirosław is originally ...

of Poland in May 2022, a 16.8-percent reduction. {, class="wikitable" , +Men's World Record History !Date !Time (s) !Person !Location !Competition , - , July 8, 2022 , 5.009 ,

Chamonix Chamonix-Mont-Blanc ( frp, Chamôni), more commonly known as Chamonix, is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of southeastern France. It was the site of the first Winter Olympics in 1924. In 2019, it had ...

, France ,

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

, - , June 30, 2022 , 5.04 ,

, Villars, Switzerland ,

, - , June 30, 2022 , 5.09 , {{flagicon, INA

, Villars, Switzerland ,

, -, - , May 27, 2022 , 5.10 , {{flagicon, INA

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

, US ,

, - , May 6, 2022 , 5.17 , {{flagicon, INA

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

, South Korea ,

, - , May 28, 2021 , 5.20 , {{flagicon, INA

, US ,

, - , May 28, 2021 , 5.25 , {{flagicon, INA

, US ,

, - , April 30, 2017 , 5.48 , {{flagicon, IRI

Reza Alipour Reza Alipour Shenazandifard ( fa, رضا علیپور شنازندی فرد, born 29 َApril 1994) is an Iranian speed climber from Qazvin. He is nicknamed the "Persian Cheetah". In 2013 at the World Cup in Haiyang, China, he broke the world r ...

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

, China ,

, - , September 12, 2014 , 5.60 , {{flagicon, UKR

, Gijon, Spain ,

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

, - , August 31, 2014 , 5.73 , {{flagicon, CZE

Libor Hroza The London Inter-Bank Offered Rate is an interest-rate average calculated from estimates submitted by the leading banks in London. Each bank estimates what it would be charged were it to borrow from other banks. The resulting average rate is u ...

Arco ARCO ( ) is a brand of gasoline stations currently owned by Marathon Petroleum after BP sold its rights. BP commercializes the brand in Northern California, Oregon and Washington, while Marathon has rights for the rest of the United States an ...

, Italy ,

, - , August 30, 2014 , 5.76 , {{flagicon, CZE

, Italy ,

, - , October 13, 2012 , 5.88 , {{flagicon, RUS Evgenii Vaitcekhovskii ,

Xining Xining (; ), alternatively known as Sining, is the capital of Qinghai province in western China and the largest city on the Tibetan Plateau. The city was a commercial hub along the Northern Silk Road's Hexi Corridor for over 2000 years, and wa ...

, China ,

, - , August 27, 2011 , 6.26 , {{flagicon, CHN Qixin Zhong ,

, Italy ,

{, class="wikitable" , +Men's Olympic Record History !Date !Time (s) !Person !Location !Games , - , August 3, 2021 , 5.45 , {{flagicon, FRA

Bassa Mawem Bassa Mawem (born 9 November 1984) is a French professional speed climber. He qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics.Qualification System – Games of the XXXII Olympiad – ''Sport climbing''; International Federation of Sport Climbing, 15 Marc ...

, Aomi Urban Sports Park, Tokyo, Japan ,

Tokyo 2020 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 ...

{, class="wikitable" , +Women's World Record History !Date !Time (s) !Person !Location !Competition , - , May 27, 2022 , 6.53 , {{flagicon, POL

Aleksandra Miroslaw Alexandra () is the feminine form of the given name Alexander (, ). Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; GEN , ; meaning 'man'). Thus it may be roughly translated as "defender of man" or "prot ...

, US ,

, - , May 6, 2022 , 6.64 , {{flagicon, POL

, South Korea ,

, - , August 6, 2021 , 6.84 , {{flagicon, POL

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, Japan ,

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

, - , November 21, 2020 , 6.96 , {{flagicon, RUS

Iuliia Kaplina Iuliia Vladimirovna Kaplina (russian: Юлия Владимировна Каплина; born 11 May 1993) is a Russian sport climber who has won multiple speed climbing events and set multiple world records. She was the world record holder in wom ...

, Russia ,

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

, - , October 19, 2019 , 6.99 , {{flagicon, IDN Aries Susanti Rahayu ,

Xiamen Xiamen ( , ; ), also known as Amoy (, from Hokkien pronunciation ), is a sub-provincial city in southeastern Fujian, People's Republic of China, beside the Taiwan Strait. It is divided into six districts: Huli, Siming, Jimei, Tong'an, ...

, China ,

, - , April 26, 2019 , 7.10 , {{flagicon, CHN YiLing Song ,

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...

, China ,

, - , April 22, 2018 , 7.32 , {{flagicon, FRA

Anouck Jaubert Anouck Jaubert (born 27 January 1994) is a French sport climber competing in speed climbing competitions. In 2017, she won the silver medal in the women's speed event at the World Games held in Wrocław, Poland. Four years earlier, she competed ...

, Russia ,

, - , July 22, 2017 , 7.32 , {{flagicon, RUS

, Wroclaw, Poland ,

World Games The World Games are an international multi-sport event comprising sports and sporting disciplines that are not contested in the Olympic Games. They are usually held every four years, one year after a Summer Olympic Games, over the course of 11 d ...

, - , April 30, 2017 , 7.38 , {{flagicon, RUS

, China ,

, - , April 23, 2017 , 7.46 , {{flagicon, RUS

, China ,

, - , July 11, 2015 , 7.53 , {{flagicon, RUS

, France ,

, - , June 21, 2015 , 7.56 , {{flagicon, RUS

, China ,

, - , May 17, 2015 , 7.74 , {{flagicon, RUS

Central Saanich Central Saanich is a district municipality in Greater Victoria, British Columbia, Canada , and a member municipality of the Capital Regional District. It is located on the Saanich Peninsula, in the far south-east of Vancouver Island. The district ...

, Canada ,

, - , October 19, 2013 , 7.85 , {{flagicon, RUS

, Wujiang, China ,

{, class="wikitable" , +Women's Olympic Record History !Date !Time (s) !Person !Location !Games , - , August 6, 2021 , 6.84 , {{flagicon, POL

, Japan ,

, - , August 4, 2021 , 6.97 , {{flagicon, POL

, Japan ,

Outdoor speed climbing

Pure speed climbing

Full speed climbing is done in such a way that maximizes speed and minimizes danger. When climbing with a partner the climbers will alternate between regular

simul climbing Simul climbing, also known as climbing with a running belay, Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills, Swan Hill Press; 6th Revised edition (14 Oct 1997) is a climbing method or style where all the climbers climb at the same time while tied into ...

aiding In international relations, aid (also known as international aid, overseas aid, foreign aid, economic aid or foreign assistance) is – from the perspective of governments – a voluntary transfer of resources from one country to another. Ai ...

, and at times sections of roped soloing. Speed climbing can also be done by an individual in which they alternate between forms of

rope soloing Rope-solo climbing or rope-soloing is a form of solo climbing (i.e. performed alone without a climbing partner), but unlike with free solo climbing, which is also performed alone and with no climbing protection whatsoever, the rope-solo climber u ...

, and

free soloing Free solo climbing, or free soloing, is a form of technical ice or rock climbing where the climbers (or ''free soloists'') climb alone without ropes, harnesses or other protective equipment, forcing them to rely entirely on their own individual ...

. Strictly speaking, this type of speed climbing is not a style but a combination or perhaps a type of aid climbing. However, the complexity of combining all the styles together leads to what can be recognized as a separate style with its own particular techniques used in no other style. Speed climbing offers a number of benefits and these include the opportunities to stress-proof learned climbing techniques and to learn more about pacing.{{Cite book, title=Performance Rock Climbing, last1=Goddard, first1=Dale, last2=Neumann, first2=Udo, publisher=Stackpole Books, year=1993, isbn=0811722198, location=Mechanicsburg, PA, page
48
url-access=registration, url=https://archive.org/details/performancerockc0000godd/page/48 Pacing is important since a broad array of paces contributes to the climber's versatility to navigate crags and rock types. A faster pace for most climbers is said to be less strenuous than climbing at their normal speed.

Style climbing

Records can be recorded while climbing in a particular

style Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to: * Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable * Design, the process of creating something * Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...

. Each of the methods ultimately handicap the rate of progress with the exception of free soloing.

Free soloing

The simplest way to increase the speed of climbing is to shed all safety precautions such as

ing and placing

protection Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although th ...

. For some climbers, this is the same as replacing the strength of the rope and the safety gears with mental toughness. This leads to

as rapidly as possible. While strictly speaking this qualifies as full speed climbing or a type of style climbing it is different enough to be recognized as its own category of speed climbing.

Outdoor records

Most speed climbing records lack the standards normally associated with objective records.

Hans Florine Hans Florine (born June 18, 1964) is an American rock climber, who holds the record for the number of ascents of Yosemite Valleys El Capitan and is known for holding the speed record on '' The Nose'' of Yosemite’s El Capitan 8 different times. ...

has written "I will be the first to say that climbing is silly. To make rules about it is just piling ridiculous on top of silly."''Speed Climbing!: How to Climb Faster and Better'' 2nd edition, By Hans Florine, Bill Wright Published by Globe Pequot, 2004, {{ISBN, 0-7627-3095-1, 978-0-7627-3095-7 There are no sanctioned speed climbing competitions on significant rock features. Nearly all climbing goals and records are self-designed, self-timed, and self-officiated; few are well documented, and many are disputed. The collection that follows abides by these loose standards. The time format below is either hrs:min or hrs:min:sec.

California

The Nose,

El Capitan El Capitan ( es, El Capitán; "the Captain" or "the Chief") is a vertical Rock formations in the United States, rock formation in Yosemite National Park, on the north side of Yosemite Valley, near its western end. The El Capitan Granite, granit ...

*1:58:07

Alex Honnold Alexander Honnold (born August 17, 1985) is an American rock climber best known for his Free solo climbing, free solo ascents of Big wall climbing, big walls. Honnold rose to prominence in June 2017 when he became the first person to free solo El ...

and

Tommy Caldwell Tommy Caldwell (born August 11, 1978) is an American rock climber who has set records in sport climbing, traditional climbing, and in big-wall climbing. Caldwell made the first free ascents of several major routes on El Capitan in Yosemite Natio ...

June 2018. *2:10:15

and

May 2018. *2:19:44

Brad Gobright Brad Gobright (June 16, 1988 November 27, 2019) was an American rock climber known for free solo climbing. Early life Gobright was born in Orange County, California, and began climbing when he was six. (This article was published in ''Rock and I ...

and Jim Reynolds October 2017. *4:43

Mayan Smith-Gobat Mayan Smith-Gobat (born 1979) is a professional big-wall climber from New Zealand and, as of 2019, held the record for fastest all-female team ascent of El Capitan's ''The Nose'' in Yosemite, California at four hours and forty three minutes. Sm ...

and Libby Sauter October 2014 (all female ascent). *12:15 Heidi Wertz and Wera Shulte-Pelcum 2004 (all female ascent). *11:41

solo. July 2005. *11:00

2005 (free ascent male). *23:46

Lynn Hill Carolynn Marie Hill (born January 3, 1961) is an American rock climber. Widely regarded as one of the leading competitive climbers, traditional climbers (and particularly big wall traditional climbers), sport climbers, and boulderers in the ...

1994 (free ascent). Regular Northwest Route,

Half Dome Half Dome is a granite dome at the eastern end of Yosemite Valley in Yosemite National Park, California. It is a well-known rock formation in the park, named for its distinct shape. One side is a sheer face while the other three sides are smooth ...

*1:53:25 Jim Herson and

1999. *5:25 Heidi Wertz and Wera Shulte-Pelcum 2004 (all female ascent). *3:58

solo 1999 (Full day also included El Cap). Snake Dike,

*3:00

Dean Potter Dean Spaulding Potter (April 14, 1972 – May 16, 2015) was an American free climber, alpinist, BASE jumper, and highliner. He completed many hard first ascents, free solo ascents, speed ascents, and enchainments in Yosemite National Park an ...

1998 (car to car).

Joshua Tree National Park Joshua Tree National Park is an American national park in southeastern California, east of San Bernardino and Los Angeles and north of Palm Springs, California, Palm Springs. It is named after the Joshua trees (''Yucca brevifolia'') native to t ...

*280 Routes in a day

Michael Reardon Michael Reardon may refer to: *Michael Reardon (climber) (1965–2007), American climber, filmmaker and writer *Michael Reardon (actor), foreign actor who starred in '' Colpo rovente'' 1970 * Michael Reardon (architect), English architect, historic ...

solo 2004. * 10 climbs 100 feet tall 45 minutes free solo, Dennis George * 600 feet car to summit with a steep approach of half mile Idyllwild, CA * 10,000 feet in 24 hours Joshua Tree, CA climb for breast cancer

Colorado

Bastille Crack * 00:05:33 Mic Fairchild solo 1998. Third Flatiron * 36:27 Bill Briggs solo 1989 (car to car).

Nevada

Epinephrine Adrenaline, also known as epinephrine, is a hormone and medication which is involved in regulating visceral functions (e.g., respiration). It appears as a white microcrystalline granule. Adrenaline is normally produced by the adrenal glands and ...

*0:39:40

2018{{Cite web, url=https://www.outsideonline.com/2289861/alex-honnolds-new-nemesis, title=Brad Gobright is Alex Honnold's New Nemesis, date=17 March 2018 *1:15 Jash Stwart solo 2002.

Cat In The Hat ''The Cat in the Hat'' is a 1957 children's book written and illustrated by the American author Theodor Geisel, using the pen name Dr. Seuss. The story centers on a tall anthropomorphic cat who wears a red and white-striped top hat and a red bow ...

*2:35

David Laxton David Laxton is a Canadian politician who was elected to in the Yukon Legislative Assembly in the 2011 election. He served as the 10th Speaker of the Yukon Legislative Assembly and represented the electoral district of Porter Creek Centre on be ...

solo 2013.

New York

The Gunks *50 Routes 13:30 Peter Darmi solo 2004. *46 Routes 13:30 Eric Weigeshoff and Peter Darmi 2004. 3400' of climbing and descent. *51 Routes 13:30 Eric Weigeshoff and Peter Darmi 2006 3400' of climbing and descent.

Wyoming

Grand Traverse *6:40

Rolando Garibotti Rolando Garibotti is an Argentinian and United States, American professional climber, writer, and mountain guide. He is from San Carlos de Bariloche, Bariloche, Argentina. These days he splits his time between the town of El Chaltén, Argentina, and ...

solo 2000.

References

{{reflist {{Portal bar, Climbing {{Climbing navbox {{Racing Sport climbing Types of climbing

Competition speed climbing

World champions

World and Olympic records

Outdoor speed climbing

Pure speed climbing

Style climbing

Free soloing

Outdoor records

California

Colorado

Nevada

New York

Wyoming

See also

References