Petra Klingler

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.

Klingler is a third-generation climber and began climbing multipitch when she was six years old. She was also involved in gymnastics, athletics, orienteering and boxing.

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

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. 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.

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. which she completed in 2019. Klingler won the 2016 IFSC Climbing World Championships for bouldering.

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.

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

In 2022 she won the world Ice Climbing Championships, 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. 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.

Outdoor climbing

Notable climbs Jacks Broken Heart – Magic Wood – 2024

Rankings Climbing World Cup Discipline Gold Silver Bronze Total 2015 1 1 2 4 2016 – 2 – 2 2017 – – 1 1 2018 – – – – 2019 – – 1 1 Total 1 3 4 8