Sean Bailey (born May 20, 1996) is an American professional

rock climber Rock climbing is a climbing sports discipline that involves ascending routes consisting of natural rock in an outdoor environment, or on artificial resin climbing walls in a mostly indoor environment. Routes are documented in guidebooks, and ...

, 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 ...

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 ...

, and

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 ...

. He has represented the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in the IFSC Climbing World Cup in

lead climbing Lead climbing (or leading) is a technique in rock climbing where the 'lead climber' Glossary of climbing terms#clip in, clips their rope to the climbing protection as they ascend a pitch (climbing), pitch of the climbing route, while their 'seco ...

, and has two podium finishes in

at individual legs of the World Cup, including a win at the

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

leg of the 2021 World Cup.1 and three in lead climbing, including two gold medals, at the Villars leg, and

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 ...

leg, in July 2021.

Early life and youth competitions

Bailey was born in

Shoreline, Washington Shoreline is a city in King County, Washington, United States. It is located between the city limits of Seattle and the Snohomish County border, approximately north of Downtown Seattle. As of the 2020 census, the population of Shoreline was ...

and began climbing at age 5 with parents, who were both climbers. He began competing with the youth team at the Vertical World climbing gym and won the USA Climbing Sport Climbing Series Youth National Championship at age 17.

Climbing career

Competition climbing

At age 17, Bailey won the 2013 American Bouldering Series, the senior national bouldering competition series in the United States. Bailey has five IFSC World Cup podium finishes, first place in boulders at

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

and in lead at Villars and

in 2021, and second place at

Vail Vail is a home rule municipality in Eagle County, Colorado, United States. The population of the town was 4,835 in 2020. Home to Vail Ski Resort, the largest ski mountain in Colorado, the town is known for its hotels, dining, and for the nume ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

. Bailey finished the Lead World Cup season in second place overall. In July 2022, he made his first podium finish of the 2022 IFSC Climbing World Cup series with a bronze medal in lead at

. In 2019, Bailey finished ninth at the Olympic qualifying event in Toulouse, one place short of securing a spot at the

2020 Summer 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 ...

, and finished fourth at the 2020 IFSC Pan-American Continental Championships in March 2020, missing a place at the 2020 Olympics at his final opportunity. In October 2023, He again came within one place of qualifying 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 ...

, finishing second at the 2023 Pan-American Games to Jesse Grupper, who took the second and last spot for American men in the boulder and lead combined category. Bailey also won the USA Climbing Lead National Championship (formerly USA Climbing Sport and Speed Nationals) in 2016, 2018 and 2022, and the 2019 Bouldering Nationals.

World Cup rankings

Sport climbing

In June 2016, Bailey sent

Chris Sharma Chris Omprakash Sharma (born 23 April 1981) is an American rock climber who is considered one of the greatest and most influential climbers in the history of the sport. He dominated sport climbing for the decade after his 2001 ascent of '' Real ...

's '' Realization/Biographie'', a route in

Céüse Céüse () is a limestone mountain in the Hautes-Alpes ''département in France, département'' of France near Gap, Hautes-Alpes, Gap and Sigoyer, Hautes-Alpes, Sigoyer. The "Pic de Céüse" is at an elevation of , and the whole massif is include ...

, France. He sent another 5.15a in March 2019, ''Joe Mama'' in

Oliana Oliana () is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of the Alt Urgell in Catalonia, Spain. It is situated in the Segre valley immediately below the Oliana reservoir. There is a factory of domestic electrical appliances in the town, and the presence ...

, Spain. In September 2021, Bailey sent '' Bibliographie'', a route just a few meters away from his previous project, ''Biographie'', in Céüse. The route was first climbed by Alex Megos in 2020 and was repeated by

Stefano Ghisolfi Stefano Ghisolfi (born February 18, 1993) is an Italian professional rock climber, who specializes in competition climbing, sport climbing, and bouldering. In competition climbing, he completes in competition lead climbing, competition boulderin ...

earlier in 2021.

Bouldering

In October and November 2020, he sent two boulders: ''Box Therapy'' in

Rocky Mountain National Park Rocky Mountain National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States located approximately northwest of Denver in north-central Colorado, within the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. The park is s ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

(downgraded to V15 by Brooke Raboutou in 2023), and ''Grand Illusion'' in

Little Cottonwood Canyon Little Cottonwood Canyon lies within the Wasatch-Cache National Forest along the eastern side of the Salt Lake Valley, roughly 15 miles from Salt Lake City, Utah. The canyon is part of Granite, a CDP and "Community Council" designated by Salt ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

. Earlier that year, Bailey sent his first boulder, ''Pegasus'' in Joe's Valley, Utah. In 2024, Bailey made the first ascent of ''Shaolin'' , in Red Rock Canyon, Nevada. The ascent was his first of the grade and the third V17 in the United States, after Daniel Woods' ''Return of the Sleepwalker'' and Shawn Raboutou’s ''Megatron''.

References

External links

Outdoor Research profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bailey, Sean Living people 1996 births Sportspeople from Seattle American rock climbers Sportspeople from Washington (state) Sport climbers at the 2023 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2023 Pan American Games IFSC Climbing World Cup overall medalists American competition climbers 21st-century American sportsmen