Toby Roberts (born 15 March 2005) is a British rock climber who specialises in competition climbing and in outdoor

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 ...

. He is the youngest British climber to redpoint a -graded sport climbing route, and in 2023 became the first British male climber to qualify for the Olympic Games. He went on to win the gold medal in the men's combined event 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, the first climber from the United Kingdom to become Olympic champion in the sport.

Early life and education

Roberts comes from Elstead,

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, the son of Tristian and Marina Roberts. Roberts attended

Edgeborough School Edgeborough School is a prep school near Farnham, Surrey in England. It is currently attended by ~360 kids between 2 and 13. The Head is Daniel Cox, former Deputy Head of Lambrook School, Ascot. Overview Edgeborough became co-educational in 1 ...

, an independent coeducational day preparatory school in Frensham (a village near

Farnham Farnham ( /ˈfɑːnəm/) is a market town and civil parish in Surrey, England, around southwest of London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, close to the county border with Hampshire. The town is on the north branch of the River Wey, a trib ...

) in Surrey, where he was introduced to climbing in 2013, followed by King Edward's School, an independent boarding and day school in Wormley (a village near Witley), also in Surrey.

Climbing career

Rock climbing

In 2015, at only ten years of age, Roberts redpointed the historic graded British

route, ''Raindogs'', at Malham Cove in North Yorkshire. In 2020, aged 15, Roberts became the youngest British climber to climb a graded sport route when he redpointed Steve McClure's ''Rainshadow'', also at Malham Cove. In 2021, Roberts became the 12th climber to redpoint Ben Moon's historic sport route, ''

Hubble The Hubble Space Telescope (often referred to as HST or Hubble) is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. It was not the first space telescope, but it is one of the largest and most versa ...

'', at

Raven Tor Dovedale is a valley in the Peak District of England. The land is owned by the National Trust and attracts a million visitors annually. The valley was cut by the River Dove, Central England, River Dove and runs for just over between Milldale ...

(the world's first 8c+-graded route).

Competition climbing

In June 2023, Roberts won his first gold medal in the

competition bouldering 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 ...

discipline at the senior level. In October 2023, aged 18, he became the first male British climber–and the second British climber after Shauna Coxsey–to earn a place in the Olympics for climbing by winning at the European Olympic Qualifier in

Laval Laval means ''The Valley'' in old French and is the name of: People * House of Laval, a French noble family originating from the town of Laval, Mayenne * Laval (surname) Places Belgium * Laval, a village in the municipality of Sainte-Ode, Luxem ...

, France for the 2024 Olympics. Roberts won gold for Great Britain in the sport climbing at the Paris Olympics in the Combined Boulder and Lead final.

Rankings

Olympics

Combined

IFSC World Cup

Lead

Boulder

IFSC Climbing Youth World Championships

Notable ascents

Redpointed routes

: :* ''Batman'' – Malham Cove (UK) – 2021. Became the youngest British climber to redpoint a 9a/+-graded route at age 16. :* ''Rainshadow'' – Malham Cove (UK) – 2020. Became the youngest British climber to redpoint a 9a-graded route at age 15. : :* ''

'' –

(UK) – 2021. Repeat of Ben Moon's historic sport climb. Other: :* ''Revelations'' –

(UK) – October 2016. Became the youngest British climber to redpoint an 8b-graded route at age 11 by repeating Jerry Moffatt's historic sport climbing route. :* ''Raindogs'' – Malham Cove (UK) – October 2015. Became the youngest British climber to redpoint an 8a-graded route at age 10 by repeating the historic sport climbing route.

References

External links

Who is Toby Roberts? The first British male climber to qualify for the Olympics
Team GB (October 2023) {{Footer Olympic Champions Sport climbing men's 2005 births Living people British rock climbers Sport climbers at the 2024 Summer Olympics People educated at Edgeborough School People educated at King Edward's School, Witley Sportspeople from Surrey British competition climbers Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in sport climbing Olympic sport climbers for Great Britain