Colin Duffy (born December 10, 2003) is an American professional rock climber who specializes in

competition climbing Competition climbing is a form of regulated rock climbing, rock-climbing competition held indoor climbing, indoors on purpose-built artificial climbing walls (earlier versions were held on external natural rock surfaces). The three competition ...

. At age 17, he became the youngest climber to qualify to compete at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Climbing career

Competition climbing

Duffy started climbing at age five before joining Team ABC in

Boulder, Colorado Boulder is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city in Boulder County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the most ...

at age eight, where he trained under Robyn Erbesfield-Raboutou and was teammates with future Olympic teammate Brooke Raboutou. As a youth competition climber, Duffy won the IFSC Climbing World Youth Championships twice in 2017 and 2018 and finished second in 2019. Additionally, he was a 10-time USAC Youth National Champion. Duffy won his first IFSC Climbing World Cup medal at the 2021 IFSC Climbing World Cup by finishing third in lead in the Villars, Switzerland leg. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, he advanced to the final round of the sport climbing competition and finished in seventh place. Duffy won his first IFSC gold medal at the 2022 IFSC Climbing World Cup, finishing first in the competition bouldering event at the

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 ...

leg. Two days later, Duffy won his second gold by finishing first in the men's

competition lead climbing Competition climbing is a form of regulated rock-climbing competition held indoors on purpose-built artificial climbing walls (earlier versions were held on external natural rock surfaces). The three competition climbing disciplines are lead ...

event. He is the first male athlete to win both bouldering and lead climbing in the same IFSC World Cup event.

Sport climbing

In 2019, aged 15, Duffy redpointed two graded

sport climbing Sport climbing (or bolted climbing) is a type of free climbing in the sport of rock climbing where the Lead climbing, lead climber clips their climbing rope, rope — via a quickdraw — into pre-drilled in-situ bolt (climbing), bolts for their ...

routes at the

Red River Gorge The Red River Gorge is a canyon system on the Red River in east-central Kentucky, United States. Geologically it is part of the Pottsville Escarpment. The gorge lies within the Daniel Boone National Forest and was subsequently designated th ...

, ''Pure Imagination'' and ''Southern Smoke'', and onsighting the graded sport route ''Omaha Beach'', in a single day; two days later he redpointed the 5.14a (8b+) route ''God's Own Stone''. In November 2021, he climbed his first graded sport route, ''Life of Villains.'' Duffy has also solved a grade

bouldering Bouldering is a form of rock climbing that is performed on small rock formations or Climbing wall, artificial rock walls without the use of ropes or Climbing harness, harnesses. While bouldering can be done without any equipment, most climbers ...

problem, ''Bookkeeping''. Duffy is sponsored by Black Diamond, Evolv, and Friction Labs.

IFSC World Cup Rankings

References

External links

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Colin Duffy
at theCrag * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Duffy, Colin Living people 2003 births People from Broomfield, Colorado American rock climbers Sportspeople from Colorado Sport climbers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Sport climbers at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic sport climbers for the United States Boulder climbers IFSC Climbing World Championships medalists American competition climbers Sportspeople from Boulder, Colorado 21st-century American sportsmen