Sean McColl

Sean McColl (born 3 September 1987) is a professional rock climber from North Vancouver, Canada. He competes in the lead climbing, speed climbing, and bouldering disciplines, and has won major competitions in all three.

Sean McColl

McColl competing at the 2012 Bouldering World Cup in Munich
Personal information
Nationality	Canadian
Born	(1987-09-03) 3 September 1987 Vancouver, Canada
Residence	Vancouver, Canada
Occupation	Professional Athlete
Height	169 cm (5 ft 7 in)
Weight	60 kg (132 lb)
Website	www.seanmccoll.com
Climbing career
Type of climber	Sport climbing
Highest grade	Redpoint: 9a (5.14d) Bouldering: V15 (8C)
Major ascents	Dreamcatcher (5.14d) Nagual (V13), flash Big Paw (V15) Meadowlark Lemon (V14)
Medal record Representing  Canada Lead World Games 2017 Wroclaw Lead
Updated on 19 November 2019.

Biography

Sean McColl was born on 3 September 1987[1] in Vancouver, Canada and lived in Chambéry, France for several years in his twenties.[2] As of the past couple of years, he travels the world training and competing. He is sponsored by VISA, Adidas, SCARPA, Flashed Climbing, Perfect Descent, Joe Rockheads, and Vertical'Art.[3]

Competitions

McColl at the final event of the Bouldering World Cup 2012

McColl winning second place at the final event of the Bouldering World Cup 2012

Sean McColl found early success while training with the Canada Youth National Climbing Team.[4]^{:p. 34–38} He won the gold medal in lead climbing in his age group at the 2002, 2003, and 2004 Youth World Championships. In 2006, he won in both the lead and speed climbing categories, and was beginning to break into the top 20 finishes at adult competitions.[5] In February 2011, McColl won first place at the 12th Annual ABS Nationals bouldering competition in Boulder, Colorado.[6]

2012 was McColl's most successful competition season to date, with 10 podium finishes at major climbing competitions.[2] In September, McColl competed in the IFSC Climbing World Championships, where he placed second in lead climbing and fourth in bouldering. Although he did not win either event, he earned enough points to secure first place in the overall competition.[7] Two months later, he went to the PanAmerican Championships in Venezuela. He took first place in lead climbing and second place in bouldering, making him the first Canadian athlete to reach the podium at the competition.[8]

In May 2013, McColl earned his first Bouldering World Cup win at an event in Log Dragomer. He was the only male competitor to solve three of the four finals problems, taking first place over Jan Hojer and Dmitri Sarafutdinov.[9] One week later, McColl took fourth place at the World Cup in Innsbruck.[10] He placed fourth once again in June at the World Cup event in Vail.[11]

In 2014 McColl competed for Team Europe in American Ninja Warrior, USA vs The World, and led his team to victory. On Stage 2 McColl blew through the stage, at one point landing hard on his stomach. During Stage 3 McColl fell on the final obstacle, just feet from the end, allowing the American team the opportunity to tie up the competition. On stage 4, although the Americans started strong, McColl flew up the rope, beating their time by three tenths of a second. Likewise, in the 2018 American Ninja Warrior "USA vs. the World" competition, McColl led Team Europe to the top of the podium, beating out American "Papal Ninja" Sean Bryan by approximately eight tenths of a second.

McColl is known as a very strong athlete both in bouldering and lead. Although he was never able to win a World Championship in these individual disciplines, in 2012 he won the overall IFSC Climbing World Championships, by ranking second in lead and fourth in bouldering. From 2011 to 2014, he consistently obtained very high IFSC Climbing World Cup rankings in both disciplines. In 2014 and 2016, he won the Combined World Cup, while in 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2015 he ranked second in the Combined World Cup.

McColl won the bronze medal at The World Games 2017 in Wrocław, Poland.

Rankings

Climbing World Cup[12]

Discipline	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
Lead	56	-	-	20	-	9	12	43	6	4	5	2	8	6	21
Bouldering	-	-	-	27	-	8	11	11	13	5	3	6	8	6	40
Speed	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	24	32	29	17	36	84
Combined	-	-	-	11	-	6	6	6	2	2	2	1	2	1	41

Climbing World Championships

Youth[13]

Discipline	2001 Youth B	2002 Youth B	2003 Youth A	2004 Youth A	2005 Juniors	2006 Juniors
Lead	-	1	1	1	6	1
Speed	1	-	-	-	8	1

Adult[13]

Discipline	2007	2009	2011	2012	2014	2016
Lead	41	5	13	2	6	6
Bouldering	25	6	11	4	9	14
Speed	-	43	53	43	26	38
Combined	-	1	-	1	1	1

Number of medals in the Climbing European Youth Cup

Lead[13]

Season	Category	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
2001	Youth B			1	1
2006	Juniors			1	1
Total		0	0	2	2

Number of medals in the Climbing World Cup

Lead[13]

Season	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
2008			1	1
2009			1	1
2010				0
2011	1	1		2
2012	1	1	2	4
2013		2	2	4
2014		3		3
2015		1	1	2
2016	1		1	2
2017		1		1
Total	3	9	8	20

Bouldering[13]

Season	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
2008			1	1
2009		1		1
2010		1		1
2011			1	1
2012		2	1	3
2013	1			1
2014		1	2	3
2015	1			1
2016			1	1
2018		1		1
Total	2	6	6	14

Notable ascents

Routes

In September 2009, McColl claimed the second ascent of Dreamcatcher, a sport route in Squamish, British Columbia. Rated 5.14d on the Yosemite Decimal System, Dreamcatcher is considered one of the hardest climbing routes in Canada. It was first established and climbed by Chris Sharma in 2005, and was unrepeated for four years despite efforts by Ethan Pringle, Sonnie Trotter and Paul Robinson.[14]

Boulders

In March 2012, McColl competed in the Hueco Rock Rodeo, an annual outdoor bouldering competition in Hueco Tanks, Texas. During the competition, he completed Nagual (rated V13 on the V-scale) in one attempt, an accomplishment known as a "flash". McColl is one of few climbers to have flashed a bouldering problem with such a high degree of difficulty.[15]

References

1. "adidas Rockstars: Sean McColl". adidas. 2012. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
2. MacDonald, Dougald. "2012 Golden Piton Awards". Climbing.com. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
3. http://seanmccoll.com/sponsors
4. Martel, Lynn (2008). Expedition to the Edge. Rocky Mountain Books. ISBN 9781897522097.
5. MacDonald, Dougald (2006). "McColl Wins Twice at Youth Worlds". Retrieved 10 July 2013.
6. Fox, Amanda (13 February 2011). "McColl, Puccio Win ABS 12 Nationals". Climbing.com. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
7. Schiassi, Franz (17 September 2012). "World Climbing Championships 2012". Planet Mountain. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
8. Larsen, Leia (12 November 2012). "DiGiulian, McColl Take Gold at PanAmerican Championships". Climbing.com. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
9. "Bouldering World Cup 2013: Sean McColl and Anna Stöhr win in Log Dragomer". Planet Mountain. 13 June 2013. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
10. "Germans Take Gold in Austrian World Cup". Climbing.com. 22 May 2013. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
11. "Russian, Austrian Victories at Vail World Cup". 9 June 2013. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
12. IFSC, ed. (20 August 2019). "World Cup Rankings". Retrieved 20 August 2019.
13. IFSC, ed. (20 August 2019). "McColl's profile and rankings". Retrieved 20 August 2019.
14. MacDonald, Dougald (24 September 2009). "McColl Bags Second Ascent of Dreamcatcher (5.14d)". Climbing.com. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
15. Fox, Amanda (6 March 2012). "New V14s by Robinson, Graham". Climbing.com. Retrieved 10 July 2013.

External links

• Personal website
• IFSC profile
• Climbing.com profile