Petra Klingler

Petra Klingler
Klingler at the Bouldering World Cup, Munich, 2017
Personal information
NationalitySwiss
Born (1992-02-14) 14 February 1992[1]
OccupationsProfessional rock and ice climber
WebsitePetra Klinger
Climbing career
Known forWinner of Bouldering World Championships in 2016[2]
Medal record
Women's competition climbing
Representing  Switzerland
World Championships
Gold medal – first place2016 ParisBouldering
Silver medal – second place2014 Munich/GijónCombined
Bronze medal – third place2012 ParisCombined

Petra Klingler (born 14 February 1992) is a Swiss rock climber and retired competition climber. Known as a versatile climber, she competed in a wide range of competitive events, including competition bouldering, speed climbing, lead climbing, and also ice climbing. She competed in the 2020 Olympics, finishing 16th.

Early life

Klingler was born in Switzerland in 1992. She was born with clubfeet, which required casting as an infant.[3]

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] She was also involved in gymnastics, athletics, orienteering and boxing.[6]

Klingler initially competed in lead climbing, but has since moved towards bouldering.[7]

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.[8] 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.[9]

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,[7][10] which she completed in 2019.[11] 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.[12]

In 2019, Klingler won the Swiss championships in all three competition climbing disciplines: lead, speed and bouldering,[13][14][15] and qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics during the 2019 IFSC Climbing World Championships.[16] The Olympics was delayed until 2021 by the COVID-19 pandemic and she placed 16th of 20 competitors.[17]

In 2022 she won the world Ice Climbing Championships,[18] and 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.[19] 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.[20]

Outdoor climbing

In 2024, she climbed one 8A and two 8A+ boulders in a day in Magic Wood, Switzerland.[21]

Notable climbs

8A+ (V12):

  • Jacks Broken Heart – Magic Wood – 2024[21]
  • Unendliche Geschichte 1 – Magic Wood – 2024[21]

8A (V11):

  • Octopussy – Magic Wood – 2024[21]

Television

At the 2024 Olympics Klingler served as analyst for the English language broadcast of the Sport Climbing discipline.[22]

Rankings

Climbing World Cup

Discipline[2] 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[23] 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[2] 2009 2011 2012 2014 2016 2018 2019 2023
Lead – – 27 15 – 13 29 –
Bouldering 30 29 7 8 1 6 10 13
Speed – – 23 27 – 33 37 –
Combined – – – – – 6 8 –

Ice climbing world championships

Discipline[23] 2015 2017 2019 2022
Lead 3 4 – 1

Medals in the Climbing World Cup

Bouldering

Season[2] Gold Silver Bronze Total
20151––1
Total1001

Ice climbing

Season[23] Gold Silver Bronze Total
20151124
2016–2–2
2017––11
2018––––
2019––11
Total1348

References

  1. ↑ "Petra Klingler". Red Bull. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Petra Klingler". www.ifsc-climbing.org. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  3. ↑ Ward, Tom (11 March 2023). "Bouldering star Petra Klingler will never back down". Redbull. Retrieved 15 July 2026.
  4. 1 2 "Petra Klingler takes first place at the IFSC Bouldering World Championships 2016". Climber News. 27 September 2016.
  5. 1 2 John Blomquist (24 October 2016). "Ep. 61 w/ Petra Klingler : 2016 IFSC Boulder Champ". Chalk Talk Climbing Podcast (Podcast). No. 61. Podtail. Archived from the original on 19 August 2019. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  6. ↑ Berry, Natalie (3 November 2023). "On Home Turf: Petra Klingler on her Competition Career". UK Climbing. Retrieved 16 July 2026.
  7. 1 2 Katrin Rath (6 August 2018). "Boulderweltcup: Petra Klingler im Interview". Bergwelten.
  8. ↑ "Petra Klingler - Late bloomer at 23!". 8a.nu. 28 June 2015. Archived from the original on 19 August 2019.
  9. ↑ "Petra Klingler wins first Gold for Switzerland in the Lead final in Kirov, Russia – UIAA". UIAA. 8 March 2015. Archived from the original on 21 March 2018.
  10. ↑ Ribolla, Marc (13 December 2017). "Top-Kletterin Petra Klingler reagiert auf Messner-Kritik". Blick.
  11. ↑ "Lectures and Speeches". Petra Klingler. Retrieved 16 July 2026.
  12. ↑ "Petra Klingler, epic bronze medal with an injured knee". OnBouldering. 26 January 2017. Archived from the original on 27 April 2017.
  13. ↑ "Petra Klingler and Marco Müller climb to the lead championship title". LACRUX climbing magazine. 17 June 2019.
  14. ↑ "Petra Klingler and Julien Clémence are Speed Swiss Champions 2019". LACRUX climbing magazine. 8 July 2019.
  15. ↑ "Petra Klingler and Sascha Lehmann are Boulder Swiss Champions 2019". LACRUX climbing magazine. 3 June 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2026.
  16. ↑ "Petra Klingler und Jessica Pilz lösen Olympiaticket". LACRUX: Das Klettermagazin. 18 August 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2026.
  17. ↑ "Tokyo 2020 Sport Climbing Women's Combined Results". Olympics. Retrieved 30 March 2025.
  18. ↑ "She Competed at the Tokyo Olympics and is Now Ice Climbing World Champion". Gripped. 1 February 2022. Retrieved 30 March 2025.
  19. ↑ "Petra Klingler, pour l'amour de la grimpe - Le Temps" (in French). 1 November 2022. ISSN 1423-3967. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  20. ↑ Redaktion (9 July 2023). "Petra Klingler resigns from the competition". Lacrux Klettermagazin. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  21. 1 2 3 4 "Petra Klingler ticks three 8A (+) in a day". 8a.nu. 27 September 2024. Retrieved 15 July 2026.
  22. ↑ Walsh, Anthony (9 August 2024). "Now THAT was a Brilliant Men's Boulder Final". Climbing. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
  23. 1 2 3 "UIAA Ice Climbing Results Archive". UIAA. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
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