Petra Klingler

Petra Klingler
Klingler at the Bouldering World Cup, Munich, 2017
Personal information
NationalitySwiss
Born (1992-02-14) 14 February 1992 (age 32)[2]
Occupation(s)Professional rock and ice climber
WebsitePetra Klinger
Climbing career
Type of climber
Known forWinner of Bouldering World Championships in 2016[1]
Medal record
Women's competition climbing
Representing  Switzerland
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2016 Paris Bouldering
Silver medal – second place 2014 Munich/Gijón Combined
Bronze medal – third place 2012 Paris Combined
Klingler at the 2022 European Sports Climbing championship

Petra Klingler (born 14 February 1992) is a Swiss rock climber who specializes in competition climbing.[2][1] Known as a versatile climber, she competes in a wide range of competitive events, including competition bouldering, competition speed climbing, competition lead climbing, and also competition ice climbing.[3]

Early life

Klingler is a third-generation climber and began climbing multipitch when she was six years old.[4] She and her brother would spend weekends outdoors, while her parents and grandparents climbed, typically with three adults climbing and the other watching them. As a teenager, she tired of climbing with her parents and began going to gyms and entering competitions. She was good at horse riding as a youth, but outgrew local competitions at 13 and began focusing on climbing instead.[5] Klingler initially competed in lead climbing, but has since moved towards bouldering.[6]

Competition climbing career

Klingler was described as a "late bloomer" by climbing media after winning her first gold medal aged 23 in bouldering at the Haiyang leg of the 2015 IFSC Climbing World Cup.[7] That same year she came third in lead climbing in the UIAA Ice Climbing World Championships, and second in lead climbing in the overall UIAA Ice Climbing World Cup.[8]

In 2016, she studied Sports Science and Psychology at the University of Bern, while also training, typically doing 10 sessions a week. Klingler described her main gym as not ideal for bouldering, but perfect for systematic training.[5] She pulled back from training a bit in 2018 to finish her degree.[6][9] Klingler won the 2016 IFSC Climbing World Championships for bouldering.[4]

In 2017, she finished with a bronze medal in the UIAA Ice Climbing World Cup despite injuring her knee halfway up the final route. Klingler was in tears after stretching some ligaments and damaging her meniscus, but managed to continue up the route using only one leg.[3]

In 2019, Klingler won the Swiss championships in all three competition climbing disciplines: lead, speed and bouldering,[10][11][12] and qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics during the 2019 IFSC Climbing World Championships.[13]

In 2022, she took part in Red Bull Dual Ascent, an informal competition hosted by Red Bull on the Contra Dam featuring pairs of climbers on mirrored multi-pitch climbing routes.[14] The next year, she announced her intent of trying to qualify for the 2024 Olympics as her last goal in competition, making the 2023 World Championships her last.[15]

Television

At the 2024 Olympics Klingler served as analyst for the English language broadcast of the Sport Climbing discipline.[16]

Rankings

Climbing World Cup

Discipline[1] 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Lead – – – – – – – – – 57
Bouldering 41 26 13 25 16 11 4 8 5 15 6
Speed – – 31 – – 38 – – – 58
Combined – – 14 – – 11 – – 14 16

Ice climbing world cup

Discipline[17] 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Lead – – 27 15 15 9 2 5 17 24 17

Climbing World Championships

Adult

Discipline[1] 2009 2011 2012 2014 2016 2018 2019
Lead – – 27 15 – 13 29
Bouldering 30 29 7 8 1 6 10
Speed – – 23 27 – 33 37
Combined – – – – – 6 8

Ice climbing world championships

Discipline[17] 2015 2017 2019 2022
Lead 3 4 – 1

Medals in the Climbing World Cup

Bouldering

Season[1] Gold Silver Bronze Total
2015 1 – – 1
Total 1 0 0 1

Ice climbing

Season[17] Gold Silver Bronze Total
2015 1 1 2 4
2016 – 2 – 2
2017 – – 1 1
2018 – – – –
2019 – – 1 1
Total 1 3 4 8

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Petra Klingler". www.ifsc-climbing.org. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
  2. ^ a b "Petra Klingler". Red Bull. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
  3. ^ a b "Petra Klingler, epic bronze medal with an injured knee". OnBouldering. January 26, 2017.
  4. ^ a b "Petra Klingler takes first place at the IFSC Bouldering World Championships 2016". Climber News. September 27, 2016.
  5. ^ a b John Blomquist (October 24, 2016). "Ep. 61 w/ Petra Klingler : 2016 IFSC Boulder Champ". Chalk Talk Climbing Podcast (Podcast). No. 61. Podtail.
  6. ^ a b Katrin Rath (August 6, 2018). "Boulderweltcup: Petra Klingler im Interview". Bergwelten.
  7. ^ "Petra Klingler - Late bloomer at 23!". 8a.nu. June 28, 2015.
  8. ^ "Petra Klingler wins first Gold for Switzerland in the Lead final in Kirov, Russia – UIAA". UIAA. March 8, 2015.
  9. ^ Ribolla, Marc (December 13, 2017). "Top-Kletterin Petra Klingler reagiert auf Messner-Kritik". Blick.
  10. ^ "Petra Klingler and Marco Müller climb to the lead championship title". LACRUX climbing magazine. June 17, 2019.
  11. ^ "Petra Klingler and Julien Clémence are Speed Swiss Champions 2019". LACRUX climbing magazine. July 8, 2019.
  12. ^ "Petra Klingler and Sascha Lehmann are Boulder Swiss Champions 2019". LACRUX climbing magazine. June 3, 2019.
  13. ^ "Petra Klingler und Jessica Pilz lösen Olympiaticket". LACRUX: Das Klettermagazin. August 18, 2019.
  14. ^ "Petra Klingler, pour l'amour de la grimpe - Le Temps" (in French). 2022-11-01. ISSN 1423-3967. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
  15. ^ Redaktion (2023-07-09). "Petra Klingler resigns from the competition". Lacrux Klettermagazin. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
  16. ^ Walsh, Anthony (2024-08-09). "Now THAT was a Brilliant Men's Boulder Final". Climbing. Retrieved 2024-08-09.
  17. ^ a b c "UIAA Ice Climbing Results Archive". UIAA. Retrieved August 30, 2019.
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