Digital expert: Shauna Coxsey will represent Team GB in Tokyo . Photo: Bob Smith/grough
Climber Shauna Coxsey has been confirmed as a member of the UK squad for this year’s Tokyo Olympics.
The Sheffield-based athlete will represent Team GB in the competition climbing competition this summer.
She is the first climber to be selected by the national team for the combined three-discipline event. The 27-year-old excels at bouldering but will also have to compete in speed- and lead-climbing for a medal in the Olympic Games.
Coxsey is the 20th athlete officially selected for Team GB for Tokyo 2020 following previous announcements of 14 sailors and five canoeists. Despite its name the organisation represents athletes from the whole of the UK.
The climber said: “I am really excited to be part of Team GB and to have the privilege of joining so many incredible athletes to represent our country and sport climbing on the world’s biggest sporting stage.”
Coxsey, originally from Runcorn in Cheshire, has twice won the bouldering world cup and also gained two bronze medals in bouldering and combined events in last year’s climbing world championships.
The format of the Olympic competition combines Coxsey’s favoured discipline of bouldering – tackling lower-level routes without ropes – with lead climbing, progressing up routes within a given time; and speed climbing, which involves climbers going head to head up 15m fixed routes in the shortest possible time.
Mark England, Team GB chef de mission for Tokyo 2020, said: “Today marks a moment of history for the sport of climbing in the UK with its first selected Olympic athlete in Shauna Coxsey.
Shauna Coxsey has excelled in bouldering. Photo: Bob Smith/grough
“It’s not only exciting for Team GB to be welcoming a new Olympic sport on the journey to Tokyo 2020 but to also announce an athlete of the talent and calibre of Shauna.
“Climbing is set to be one of the showpiece events for fans watching the Games this summer and in Shauna we have a world champion and a fantastic ambassador for the sport in the UK.”
Lorraine Brown, sport climbing team leader and head of managed sports at the English Institute of Sport, said: “Having witnessed Shauna’s Olympic qualification performance last year, it is exciting to see her officially selected onto Team GB for Tokyo 2020.
“Shauna is a pioneer for GB Climbing as the first sport climber to represent Team GB. I know she will be an amazing ambassador for sport climbing and Team GB at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.”
The games will take place in the Japanese capital from 24 July to 9 August.
- Read grough’s 2018 interview with Shauna Coxsey.
