As the UK’s most successful climber and first ever bouldering world champion, Shauna Coxsey is used to reaching the heights. But the Olympic Games is one sporting peak she never imagined she’d conquer. “I wanted to climb, but my sport wasn’t part of the Olympics,” she says. “So I thought it was never going to be, especially not during my professional career.”

But climbing has become incredibly fashionable in recent years. Participation has skyrocketed, with the climbing gym industry growing year on year. The sport is huge on social media (there are 3.7 million posts under #bouldering on Instagram), big with celebrities (actor Brie Larson is a fan) and a hit on the big screen (climbing was the subject of the Oscar-winning documentary Free Solo).

And the obsession has led to climbing into one of five new sports at Tokyo 2020. Which means that Cheshire-born Coxsey, who won first place at the IFSC Climbing World Cup in bouldering in both 2016 and 2017, has a new summit to aim for come July.

But she talks of her hopes to be the first British climbing winner at the Olympics, she remains grounded. “The Olympics still feels so surreal, there is a lot of pressure,” she says. “But as long as you know that you are doing it for yourself first, then it’s easy to deal with all of that.” Here, Coxsey talks us through her journey to the world stage.

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