With the Olympics coming up and more people getting involved in the sport of climbing, a pretty common question is coming up around who the best climbers are.
So, is Adam Ondra the best climber in the world? Currently, Ondra is the best climber alive. He has done the hardest routes as well as ascending wide variety of cutting-edge climbs in different styles.
Although there are a lot of really strong climbers out there, I have no doubt that Adam Ondra deserves to be crowned the best in the world. Not only has he been setting standards for nearly a decade with his first ascents of Change 5.15c, La Dura Dura 5.15c, and Silence 5.15d (all of which were the hardest climbs in the world when he sent them), he has also show talent in all facets of climbing (like big wall routes, bouldering, and off-width cracks).
The Case for Adam
It’s always hard to crown someone the ‘best climber’ in the world, because there are so many elements to the sport. Very rarely in climbing history has there been one stand-alone consensus best; even legends like Chris Sharma had Tommy Caldwell in the background challenging their throne.
With Ondra, though, I don’t think there’s a single person in the climbing community who would dispute the claim that he’s the best around right now. There are four main reasons that people consider Ondra the current king:
- Resume: He has done more hard climbs than anyone else alive, by a massive amount.
- Technique: Ondra is a highly technical climber whose efficiency is miles better than anyone else.
- Competition history: For half a decade, Ondra’s been showing how good he is when put head-to-head with some of the other current greats.
- Variety: Like a side, Ondra dominates all aspects of climbing.
Resume
The first thing to talk about when you’re making the case for Adam Ondra, and probably the one that most clearly cements his greatness, is his resume.
I could talk about his achievements, but it’s actually easier just to show you. Take a look at the following graph, provided by Rock and Ice, showing how many hard climbs (climbs graded 5.15 or greater) Ondra has done compared to everyone else in history:
That’s insane. He has three times as many hard routes as Alex Megos, who most people would consider the only person even remotely close to Ondra in terms of skill nowadays. It’s a level of domination that we’ve rarely seen from any athlete, ever.
Also on his resume is the fact that Ondra has established two new grades, 5.15c and 5.15d. Any time you establish a new grade it’s going to automatically put you in the conversation as one of the greatest climbers of all time; Ondra has done it twice with Change and Silence, respectively.
The sheer number of hard routes he’s done compared to everyone else alive is a clear indicator that Ondra is on a different level.
Technique
Ondra’s technique is something else that sets him apart from the crowd. He has an incredible ability to move efficiently, keeping the weight off of his hands and expending as little energy as possible. For a more in-depth breakdown of this, check out my video above!
Climbing like this allows Ondra to send harder routes than everyone while not being as strong as them, which leaves a burning question — just how good would he be if he got stronger?
Competition History
Although the inclusion of competitions as a metric of greatness is still somewhat controversial in the climbing world (because climbers are pretentious), I think it’s perfectly valid to bring up.
In fact, competitions are probably the best place to see how climbers stack up against each other, because you get to see them compete on the exact same route under the same conditions — and in that scenario, Ondra has dominated.
In the past 10 years he’s won 33 medals in various climbing competitions. This feat is extra impressive when you consider that, while he was doing that, he was also training to climb the hardest outdoor routes in the world.
There have also been several competitions where Ondra’s simply looked to be on a different planet than everyone else, showing how much better he is. Good examples of this would be the 2016 Paris World Cup, the 2019 Kranj lead world cup, and the 2019 Meringen Bouldering World Cup.
Variety
Finally comes the variety of Ondra’s achievements. This is, in my opinion, the thing that really sets him apart from the rest of the great climbers in history. Throughout time, most of them have been specialists: Wolfgang Gullich crushed sport routes, Jim Bridwell did dangerous aid climbs, and Tommy Caldwell is the king of the big wall.
Adam Ondra, though, does it all. Aside from his sport climbing achievements, he has:
- Repeated the Dawn Wall, which took Caldwell 7 years to climb (it took Ondra three weeks).
- Sent Belly Full of Bad Berries, and infamously hard off-width route.
- Flashed a V14 boulder problem, becoming the first person to ever do so.
- Put up numerous first V16 bouldering problems.
That’s an absolutely insane resume for someone who’s supposed to be a sport climbing specialist. We’ve rarely seen someone with the variety of skills that Ondra possesses.
Will Adam Win the Olympics?
Another question that I see floating around a lot is whether or not Adam Ondra will win gold at the Olympics. I have a video above on this very topic (skip to around the 10-minute mark for the discussion of Ondra), but I’ll give an answer here too.
Will Adam Ondra win the Olympics? No, Ondra is not favoured to win the Olympics. Tomoa Narasaki will most likely get the gold medal.
Now, I know this seems contradictory — didn’t I just say that Ondra was the best climber in the world? Why won’t he win?
The answer to this is because while Ondra is an amazing all-around climber, Tomoa Narasaki, his main rival, is tailor-made for competitions. Because of the combined formatting of the Olympics, Ondra will not only need to compete in bouldering and lead climbing events; he’ll also need to compete in speed.
Speed is by far Adam’s weakest climbing discipline, and his inability to post times under 7 seconds will most likely cost him the gold medal in Tokyo.
Other Great Climbers
If you want to know more about some of the best climbers in the world right now, I would check out my article here for a full top ten. As a quick overview, though, here are some of the others who are pushing the sport to new heights:
Alex Megos
Alex Megos is the only person alive who can currently hold a candle to Adam Ondra’s lead climbing achievements. He’s the only other climber to put up first ascents of 5.15c (with Perfecto Mundo) and 5.15d (with Bibliographie). That automatically makes him one of the greatest sport climbers ever.
Megos doesn’t have the same technique as Ondra does, but he more than compensates for it with raw power.
Jakob Schubert
If the rock climbing world had an ‘ole faithful’, it would be Jakob Schubert. He’s won golds in competitions, he’s climbed 5.15c, and for more than a decade, he’s been one of the greatest climbers in the world.
Laura Rogora
Laura Rogora is basically the only good thing that happened in the world in 2020. A bright spot in a dull year for climbing, she made history by becoming the second woman to ever climb 5.15b with her ascent of Ali Hulk Sit Extension Full.
After that, she went head-to-head with the greatest competition climber ever in Janja Garnbredt and beat her in Briancon. Rogora has insane endurance and a beautiful, flowy style, and I’m excited to see where her future within the sport takes her.
Stefano Ghisolfi
Ghisolfi’s skills haven’t fully translated onto the competition scene, which is too bad, but as an outdoor sport climber, he’s one of the best in the world. He’s the only person besides Adam Ondra to have more than one 5.15c ascent to his name (Perfecto Mundo, Change), and he’s shown an ability to exceed in a multitude of different climbing styles.
Ashima Shiraishi
Like Rogora, Ashima is a young up-and-comer who’s hopefully yet to reach her full potential. A couple of bad competitions have excluded her from competing in the upcoming Olympics, but Shiraishi remains one of the best outdoor boulderers in the world, and she still has a long time to go in her career.