Sunday, December 22, 2024

Wall or nothing: 17-year-old Ava is UK’s fastest woman climber

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The International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) standardised speed climbing in 2007.

“I only remember that because it’s the year I was born,” said Ava.

“Tokyo 2020 did wonders for the sport because people could see the speed these climbers were running up the walls and it gained a lot of traction.

“It’s a shame it’s not as accessible to the public as other types of climbing, but it’ll get there.”

There are three full-sized standardised speed climbing walls in the UK, and the only one in Scotland is in Edinburgh.

Every wall is the same, down to the millimetre and materials used, with exactly 20 handholds and 11 footholds.

Ava worked with Above Adventure in Kilmarnock to create two sections of speed wall in their rock climbing gym to these exact measurements.

“It means I can practise every bit individually,” she said.

“But it’s not a huge thing in the UK so it’s not really funded and most people are self-funded or through private sponsors.

“It would be good to see more people competing in the UK as it’s quite an underdeveloped sport here.”

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