What is sport climbing?
Sport climbing is competition on artificial walls in three disciplines: boulder (short problems, no rope), lead (height reached on a long roped route) and speed (a standardized 15-meter wall raced side by side, world records under five seconds). Olympic since Tokyo 2020, split into boulder-and-lead plus separate speed medals from Paris 2024.[1] [2]
How does it work?
The IFSC runs a World Cup series in each discipline and biennial World Championships, with published world rankings feeding Olympic qualification. Speed climbing is unique: identical routes worldwide make its times true records, comparable across every event ever held.[2] [3]
Where is climbing strong?
Slovenia's Janja Garnbret stands alone — double Olympic champion, ten world titles, the most dominant competitor climbing has produced — with Japan (Tokyo's boulder school), the USA, France, South Korea (Lee Dohyun's home lead gold in Seoul), Britain, Austria and, in speed, China and Indonesia at the front.[3] [4]
How is climbing awarded?
- Olympic and world championship medals per discipline.[3]
- IFSC World Cup standings and world rankings — the season ladders.[2]
- Speed world records — ratified on the standard route, a rare objective absolute in a judged-sport family.[2]
- Outdoor grades and first ascents — the climbing world's parallel, peer-verified currency.[1]
Who has won the most in sport climbing?
Counted from the federation's own results database — the IFSC, which rebranded to World Climbing on 10 December 2025, so its pages carry either name — with the World Cup totals cut off at Laval on 30 August 2026. Two conventions matter. The "combined" world titles of 2012, 2014 and 2016 were an overall ranking rather than a staged event and are absent from the federation's own database, so they are excluded here, which costs Sean McColl three golds. And the Rock Master "World Championship pre-event" is filtered out. The World Cup win totals rank a verified candidate pool rather than an exhaustive scan of every event: the federation publishes no leaderboard, so early totals may be understated.
Most World Championship gold medals — men (1991–2025)
| Rank | Name | Country | Years | Golds | Disciplines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jakob Schubert | Austria | 2012–2023 | 6 | Lead 4 (2012, 18, 21, 23), Combined 2 (2018, 2023) |
| 2 | Zhong Qixin | China | 2007–2012 | 5 | Speed 5 (2007, 2009 ×2, 2011, 2012) |
| 3 | Adam Ondra | Czech Republic | 2014–2019 | 4 | Lead 3 (2014, 16, 19), Boulder 1 (2014) |
| 4= | François Legrand | France | 1991–1995 | 3 | Lead 3 (1991, 93, 95) |
| 4= | Dmitrii Sharafutdinov | Russia | 2007–2012 | 3 | Boulder 3 (2007, 11, 12) |
| 4= | Tomoa Narasaki | Japan | 2016–2019 | 3 | Boulder 2 (2016, 19), Combined 1 (2019) |
| 7= | Tomáš Mrázek | Czech Republic | 2003–2005 | 2 | Lead 2 |
| 7= | Ramón Julián Puigblanque | Spain | 2007–2011 | 2 | Lead 2 |
| 7= | Maksym Styenkovyy | Ukraine | 2001–2003 | 2 | Speed 2 |
| 7= | Danyil Boldyrev | Ukraine | 2014–2021 | 2 | Speed 2 |
Most World Championship gold medals — women (1991–2025)
| Rank | Name | Country | Years | Golds | Disciplines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Janja Garnbret | Slovenia | 2016–2025 | 10 | Lead 3 (2016, 19, 25), Boulder 4 (2018, 19, 23, 25), Combined 3 (2018, 19, 23) |
| 2 | Angela Eiter | Austria | 2005–2012 | 4 | Lead 4 (2005, 07, 11, 12) |
| 3= | Olena Ryepko | Ukraine | 2001–2005 | 3 | Speed 3 |
| 3= | Aleksandra Mirosław | Poland | 2018–2025 | 3 | Speed 3 (2018, 19, 25) |
| 5= | 6 climbers on 2: Susi Good (SUI, Lead 1991, 93) · Liv Sansoz (FRA, Lead 1997, 99) · Tatiana Ruyga (RUS, Speed 1997, 2007) · He Cuilian (CHN, Speed 2009 10 m + 15 m) · Anna Stöhr (AUT, Boulder 2007, 11) · Jessica Pilz (AUT, Lead 2018 + Combined 2021) | – | – | 2 | https://www.worldclimbing.com/athlete/6521/susi-good · /4530/liv-sansoz · /42/tatiana-ruyga · /2930/cuilian-he · /1211/anna-stöhr · /1226/jessica-pilz |
Most World Cup / World Climbing Series event wins — men
| Rank | Name | Country | Span | Lead | Boulder | Speed | Wins |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jakob Schubert | Austria | 2010–2026 | 21 | 3 | – | 24 |
| 2 | Adam Ondra | Czech Republic | 2010–2026 | 16 | 6 | – | 22 |
| 3= | Ramón Julián Puigblanque | Spain | 2001–2018 | 21 | – | – | 21 |
| 3= | Alexandre Chabot | France | 1998–2007 | 21 | – | – | 21 |
| 3= | Kilian Fischhuber | Austria | 2004–2014 | – | 21 | – | 21 |
| 6 | Sorato Anraku | Japan | 2022–2026 | 7 | 10 | – | 17 |
| 7 | François Legrand | France | 1990–2003 | 15 | – | – | 15 |
| 8 | Zhong Qixin | China | 2006–2019 | – | – | 13 | 13 |
| 9 | Dmitrii Sharafutdinov | Russia | 2005–2019 | – | 12 | – | 12 |
| 10= | Jérôme Meyer | France | 2001–2009 | – | 11 | – | 11 |
| 10= | Tomáš Mrázek | Czech Republic | 1999–2010 | 10 | 1 | – | 11 |
Most World Cup / World Climbing Series event wins — women
| Rank | Name | Country | Span | Lead | Boulder | Speed | Wins |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Janja Garnbret | Slovenia | 2015–2026 | 32 | 18 | – | 50 |
| 2 | Kim Ja-in | South Korea | 2006–2026 | 30 | 1 | – | 31 |
| 3 | Angela Eiter | Austria | 2003–2013 | 25 | – | – | 25 |
| 4= | Anna Stöhr | Austria | 2005–2017 | – | 22 | – | 22 |
| 4= | Mina Markovič | Slovenia | 2008–2019 | 20 | 2 | – | 22 |
| 4= | Sandrine Levet | France | 1999–2008 | 5 | 17 | – | 22 |
| 7 | Akiyo Noguchi | Japan | 2005–2021 | – | 21 | – | 21 |
| 8 | Muriel Sarkany | Belgium | 1993–2010 | 20 | – | – | 20 |
| 9 | Anouck Jaubert | France | 2013–2021 | – | – | 15 | 15 |
| 10 | Aleksandra Mirosław | Poland | 2014–2026 | – | – | 14 | 14 |
Olympic sport-climbing medals by country (Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024)
| Rank | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1= | Japan | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 1= | United States | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 3 | Austria | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 4 | Slovenia | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 5 | Poland | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 6 | People's Republic of China | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 7= | Great Britain | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 7= | Indonesia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 7= | Spain | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Medal lists rank on total medals, then gold, then silver; title lists rank on titles. Equal totals share a rank, and every table states the period and the last event it includes. Verified September 2026.[5] [6] [7]
References
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — Sport climbing. Accessed August 2026.
- IFSC — official site. Accessed August 2026.
- Olympics.com — 2025 IFSC World Championships: full results. Accessed August 2026.
- Olympics.com — Garnbret lands ninth gold in Seoul lead final. Accessed August 2026.
- World Climbing (formerly IFSC) — athlete result pages, the federation's own results database. Accessed September 2026.
- World Climbing — Jakob Schubert's results page. Accessed September 2026.
- Olympedia — Sport Climbing (sport group CL). Accessed September 2026.