Aleksandra (Ola) Mirosław (; née Rudzińska, born 2 February 1994) is a Polish soldier and competition speed climber. She is a two-time women's speed

world champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

as well as the current women's competition speed climbing world record holder. Mirosław won the gold medal at the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

in the

speed climbing Speed climbing is a climbing discipline in which speed is the ultimate goal. Speed climbing is done on rocks, walls and poles and is only recommended for highly skilled and experienced climbers. Competition speed climbing, which takes place on a ...

event, becoming the first ever Olympic champion in this event.

Early life

Mirosław is originally from

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. She started in sports at the age of seven and initially pursued swimming. She switched to speed climbing in 2007 being influenced by her older sister Małgorzata. She studied at the Lublin University of Technology. Up until 2019, she had worked as a physical education teacher in one of the schools in Lublin.

Competition climbing career

Competing as Aleksandra Rudzińska, she won the women's world championship speed climbing bronze medal at the 2014 IFSC Climbing World Championships in

Gijón Gijón () or () is a city and municipality in north-western Spain. It is the largest city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality by population in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Asturias. It is located on the coa ...

, Spain. She became the women's speed climbing world champion in September 2018 at the 2018 IFSC Climbing World Championships in

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...

. Mirosław defended her world title and won her second women's competition speed climbing world gold medal a year later, at the

2019 IFSC Climbing World Championships The 2019 IFSC Climbing World Championships, the 16th edition, were held in Hachioji, Japan from 11 to 21 August 2019. The championships consisted of lead, speed, bouldering, and combined events. The paraclimbing event was held separately from ...

in Hachioji, Japan.Mike Rowbootom
Miroslaw retains speed title at IFSC Climbing World Championships

Inside the Games ''Inside the Games'' (also known as insidethegames and insidethegames.biz) is an Olympic news website formerly edited by the British sports journalist Duncan Mackay. In 2023 it was sold to Vox Europe Investment Holding Ltd, with editorial work ...

, August 17, 2019. Accessed August 17, 2019. During the same competition Mirosław reached the finals of the combined event qualifying her for the

2020 Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

. She won two stages of the

IFSC Climbing World Cup The IFSC Climbing World Cup is a series of competition climbing events held during the year at various locations around the world, organized by the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC). At each event, the athletes compete in three d ...

in speed climbing, at

Chamonix Chamonix-Mont-Blanc (; ; (no longer in use)), more commonly known simply as Chamonix (), is a communes of France, commune in the departments of France, department in the regions of France, region in Southeastern France. It was the site of the f ...

in July 2018 and at Wujiang in May 2019.Alexandra Miroslaw. IFSC profile

International Federation of Sport Climbing The International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) is the international governing body for the sport of competition climbing, which consists of the disciplines lead climbing, bouldering, and speed climbing. Charter The IFSC describes itself ...

. Accessed August 24, 2019 Previously she finished in second place at Chamonix in July 2016, and third at Wujiang in October 2016. On 4 August 2021, during the

Tokyo 2020 Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

she established the initial women's

Olympic Record Olympic records are the best performances in a specific event in that event's history in either the Summer Olympic Games or the Winter Olympic Games. Summer Olympics * Archery at the Summer Olympics, Archery (List of Olympic records in archery, li ...

in competition speed climbing with 6.97 s. She improved her time in the finals on 6 August, setting a new women's

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

with 6.84 s. She finished in 4th place in the overall standings and did not win a medal. On 27 May 2022, during the second qualification round of the IFSC Climbing World Cup in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, she broke her own previous speed-climbing world record with a time of 6.53 seconds. On 28 April 2023, during the IFSC Climbing World Cup in Seoul, South Korea, she broke her world records four times. The final world record she set that evening, in the finals, was 6.25 seconds. On 15 September 2023, Mirosław qualified for the

2024 Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

in the European Qualifier. In the qualification round, she also set a new world record of 6.24 seconds. On 5 August 2024, during the qualification heats at the 2024 Olympics, Mirosław broke her world records twice, and set a new world record of 6.06 seconds. She defeated Spain's Leslie Romero Pérez, Poland's Aleksandra Kałucka and China's Deng Lijuan in the knock out stage on her way to Olympic gold medal. As a recognition of her achievements, a

mural A mural is any piece of Graphic arts, graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' ...

depicting Mirosław beating the world record was created by artist Michał Ćwiek in her hometown of Lublin.

Personal life

She previously competed under her maiden name, as Aleksandra Rudzińska. In 2019, she married her coach, Mateusz Mirosław.

Awards and honours

* Gold Cross of Merit (2021) *

Medal of Merit for National Defence The Medal of Merit for National Defence () is a military decoration, decoration of the Ministry of National Defence (Poland), Ministry of National Defence of Poland. Established 21 April 1966 and revised in 1991, the medal recognizes meritorious s ...

(2024) *

Officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," fro ...

's Cross of the

Order of Polonia Restituta The Order of Polonia Restituta (, ) is a Polish state decoration, state Order (decoration), order established 4 February 1921. It is conferred on both military and civilians as well as on alien (law), foreigners for outstanding achievements in ...

(2024) * Polish Sports Personality of the Year (2024)

Major results

Olympic Games

World championships

World Cup

European championships

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mirosław, Aleksandra 1994 births Living people Polish mountain climbers Polish rock climbers Polish female climbers Polish competition climbers Speed climbers IFSC Climbing World Championships medalists IFSC Climbing World Cup overall medalists Sports world record holders Olympic sport climbers for Poland Olympic gold medalists for Poland Olympic medalists in sport climbing Sport climbers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Sport climbers at the 2024 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics European Games silver medalists for Poland European Games medalists in sport climbing Sport climbers at the 2023 European Games Competitors at the 2013 World Games Competitors at the 2017 World Games Sportspeople from Lublin 21st-century Polish sportswomen