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GB CLIMBING


After getting that medal, I got full-time funding. Being a full-time athlete is a mixed bag! On the whole it’s amazing. I get to try to be the best version of me that I possibly can, as a job. I feel incredibly fortunate that I can dedicate all my time to doing what I love, and I’m not sure I’d be as passionate about any other job. I never thought it would be possible to be a professional climber, and I hope I can inspire others that it is something attainable to strive for.


However, I won’t lie, sometimes it’s quite hard being a full-time athlete. Of course there are the hard physical demands of full-time training, and small sacrifices in terms of unhealthy behaviours. But, for me, the hardest part is that my performance in competitions is now the measure of whether I have a job or not. It’s complicated in terms of self-worth.


Everything was going well, and I was hoping to qualify for climbing’s debut at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Then I ruptured three pulleys. I had to take time off climbing for the first time. That period off at the end of 2017 really hammered home how much climbing means to me.


It was hard not having climbing to fall back on, as it can sometimes be my method of shaking a bad mood or troubled mind. It was also hard to have so much uncertainty around what the future of my climbing would look like after the surgery. I went to support Team GB at the lead World Cups in the summer, so I didn’t forget what I was hoping to be a part of again.


I lasted 20 days after having surgery before I got back on the wall with one hand, the other in a cast behind my back! I’ve always struggled to rest from climbing – even holidays involve or revolve around climbing. After that I went to the wall pretty much every day, and the gym became my special place where I pushed myself in the way that I used to with climbing.


Training in three disciplines for the 2020 Olympics was a lot of pressure on the body, and I felt tired and tweaky a lot at the beginning. Speed climbing is very different to lead and bouldering, and requires a different focus for training. I started doing a lot more gym work, strengthening my legs, and working on explosivity. Speed is quite intense on the fingers.


There were going to be final chances to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in March and April, but those events were cancelled due to COVID-19, and the Olympics has been postponed until next year. I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface of what I’m capable of in competitions so, whatever happens, I plan on sticking around for a while with the Paris 2024 Olympics included on my goals list. Paris 2024 will offer a more relevant format for me, because it’s been decided that speed climbing will be held as a separate event.


“I never thought it would be possible for


me to be a professional climber. I hope I can


inspire others that it is something attainable to strive for”


If I couldn’t climb anymore I’d probably start training a lot in the gym, trying to get as strong as possible. I really enjoy strength and conditioning work. Seeing numbers increase in the gym is such an easy way to measure improvement – I find the same sort of addiction forming as with climbing.


The surgery was a breeze compared to the rehab. Countless hours of willing my finger to bend again, massaging away scar tissue, picking out bits of stitches and applying gel to the scar. In hindsight, it was a ridiculously fast comeback considering the gravity of the injury.


I remember being upset that I had to wait a month longer than expected before I could start climbing with two hands but, once I did, the progress was rapid. Within three months I’d gone from V0 to one move out of the finals at the World Championships in Innsbruck. It felt like a huge mental build-up to that first competition after the surgery and I was truly exhausted once it was over.


Due to Coronavirus, I moved to my boyfriend’s place in Germany to spend the foreseeable future in lockdown. Germany seems to be handling the crisis fairly well. We spend almost all of our time at home, but are able to leave the house as much as we want and business is slowly returning to a new ‘normal’. I honestly found it hard to be disappointed about the affects of Coronavirus on sporting events. Of course, I had trained hard for the competition season but, in the middle of a pandemic, I’m beyond grateful to be healthy and not directly suffering from COVID-19.


I’m trying to see this time ‘off‘ as a blessing. I now have plenty of time to work on the things I neglected in the past; I also have more ‘hard‘ training time without any finger problems before the next Olympics. I think climbers are lucky that they can still do a lot without a climbing wall. My fingers feel much healthier and stronger from regular fingerboard sessions, and I am slowly getting more flexible and mobile, which has always


been a struggle for me! It’ll be straight back to business as normal for me whenever the climbing walls reopen here.


After I’ve finished sieging competitions, a big goal of mine is to become a more all-rounded climber by reaching certain milestones in each discipline. I’d also like to do some coaching for the GB Team, or for an athlete or two who really wants to take competitions seriously. I feel there aren’t many of those kind of coaches around.


Most of the climbing I currently do is sport and bouldering indoors, but I do love bouldering on rock, too. Trad isn’t quite within my comfort zone, but it’s something I’d like to get into one day. I don’t actually do that much indoor leading – I find bouldering more social and entertaining and sport climbing far more interesting. Also the bouldering facilities in the UK are much better than the sport climbing ones.


I actually considered applying for university this year, but decided to start an online nutrition course instead, so I have the flexibility to train when and where I like. I always loved studying at school, and the structure it gave me, but I want climbing to be my number one priority for as long as possible.


28 | CLIMB. WALK. JOIN.


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