The road to American sport climbing at the Paris Olympics was paved through Boulder.
Three of the four Americans headed to Paris for lead and bouldering — Colin Duffy, Brooke Raboutou and Natalia Grossman — spent their youth at ABC Kids Climbing in Boulder. There, the trio padded the city’s reputation as one of America’s premier climbing hotspots. And soon they could further reinforce it by bringing home gold.
“Colorado certainly was for a while, and still is in a lot of aspects, the mecca of climbing in the U.S.,” Duffy said. “Boulder was such a notable part of the early days of climbing, and some of the first climbing gyms in the U.S. were there and they used to hold the national championships there in the early 2000s.
“To see the talent that Boulder has produced is really special, and I’m really proud to be a Coloradan and part of the latest chapter.”
Duffy, 20, was the youngest U.S. climber at the Tokyo Games in 2021 when the sport made its Olympic debut. He finished seventh there, while Raboutou placed fifth. Grossman didn’t qualify for Tokyo but earned her spot in Paris by beating out fellow 23-year-old Raboutou for the gold medal at last fall’s Pan American Games while finishing the year ranked No. 1 in bouldering.
Both Duffy and Raboutou also claimed gold in the time since Tokyo, with the former earning first in bouldering and lead climbing at the 2022 IFSC Climbing World Cup. Meanwhile, Raboutou won bouldering gold at the 2023 IFSC Climbing World Cup.
All three competed for Team ABC Boulder under Brooke’s parents, Robyn Erbesfield-Raboutou and Didier Raboutou, who were accomplished climbers on the International Competition Circuit. On Team ABC Boulder, the rising stars developed a friendship and, in the case of Raboutou and Grossman, planted the seeds for a budding professional rivalry.
Brooke Raboutou of the U.S. in competes during the women’s boulder and lead qualification on June 21, 2024, in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by David Balogh/Getty Images)
“They came to practice three, four days a week all with the same goals,” Erbesfield-Raboutou said. “They continued to improve on the youth circuit and then as they became older, like 16, they went onto the adult circuit, the World Cup Circuit. They were able to grow in the sport together. So even now, when they find themselves in competition together, there’s a lot of roots and childhood memories between them.”
The trio’s accomplishments over the last few years have built on the greatness of Boulder climbing legends before them.
Notable local men such as Daniel Woods (an eight-time American Bouldering Series champion), Shawn Raboutou (Brooke’s older brother, who was the first to climb two different V17 boulder problems) and Paul Robinson (a pioneer in establishing bouldering problems), as well as renowned women like Lynn Hill and Bobbi Bensman, set the stage for Boulder’s latest talent.
“It’s said you stand on the shoulders of those before you,” Hill said. “Somebody had to go out and pave the way, and it just happened to be a collection of us (in Boulder). It’s natural that when you’re young and you climb around these accomplished people and exchange ideas and watch older climbers’ success, you learn and grow and want to match them.”
Lynn Hill, world-class rock climber, is photographed at Chautauqua Park in Boulder on April 12, 2002. (Glenn Asakawa, Denver Post)
Hill made the first free ascent of The Nose on El Capitan and won 30 national titles, while Bensman won the Phoenix Bouldering Contest 13 years in a row and captured 20 national titles. Their accomplishments, in conjunction with the men and an infrastructure in Boulder that enabled climbing to thrive, laid the foundation for the rise of Duffy, Raboutou and Grossman.
“The competitions that started in the mid-to-late 1980s and the organizations that put them on, that was a big deal, and that helped generate a lot of new, young climbers, and started to grow the interest in the sport,” Bensman said. “The climbing gym scene was really strong in Colorado in the early days of that, and of course, there was access to all the great outdoor climbing that’s here as well. That’s what made the state a mecca.”
But unlike those aforementioned icons, Duffy, Raboutou and Grossman are getting to showcase themselves on the Olympic stage, after climbing became part of the Olympic program three years ago.
In Tokyo, the lead, boulder and speed disciplines were combined into a single event, but the format has changed for Paris. Now, speed is separate from lead and boulder, which will be a combined event.
“I’m grateful at how the timing worked out, because when I was a kid, I wasn’t dreaming of making the Olympics, I was dreaming of World Cups,” Duffy said. “I was just starting to compete at a high level, and same with Brooke and Natalia, right when the first Olympics came around. I’m excited to give it another go at this Olympics, and hopefully make more in the future.”
Duffy, a Broomfield native who graduated from Stargate Charter School, is currently a CU student. Raboutou and Grossman both graduated from Fairview. Grossman moved from California to Boulder for the climbing culture in her early teens and is a CU graduate who has since relocated to Salt Lake City.
USA’s Natalia Grossman competes in the lead stage during the sport climbing women’s boulder & lead final of the Pan American Games Santiago 2023, at the Cerrillos Park Climbing Walls in Santiago on Oct. 24, 2023. (Photo by Pablo VERA / AFP)
There, the 10-time World Cup bouldering gold medalist is embedded within the other hub of U.S. climbing. Salt Lake City is where the USA Climbing and Black Diamond Equipment headquarters are, and Bensman, who splits her time between that city and Superior, believes the Utah capital has overtaken Boulder in terms of facilities and the sheer number of elite climbers.
“Every corner in Salt Lake has a climbing gym, it feels like, and it’s insane because they’re world-class gyms,” Bensman said. “Some of the walls are 80 feet, and we don’t have that here in Colorado. So many of the best climbers in the country live in Salt Lake. But as a climber, you can’t go wrong in either area.”
In Tokyo, Salt Lake City climber Nathaniel Coleman became the first and only American to medal at the Games by taking silver. In Paris, Colorado natives Duffy and Raboutou have a good chance to not only land on the podium along with Grossman but to also make the Centennial State the first to win a climbing gold medal for the U.S.
“Hopefully I’ll be in a good mental state and make smart decisions on the wall,” Duffy said. “If I climb smart, and climb strong, the results will follow. Making it back into the final is my first objective when I step onto that stage, and after that, it’s about giving it my all and seeing what can happen.”
2024 Paris Olympics Sport Climbing Schedule
All times MDT and schedule subject to change.
Colin Duffy of Team United States of America during the Sport Climbing Men’s Combined Final on day thirteen of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Aomi Urban Sports Park on Aug. 05, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Maja Hitij/Getty Images)
Monday, Aug. 5
2 a.m. – 6 a.m. Men’s boulder semifinals, women’s speed qualification
Tuesday, Aug. 6
2 a.m. – 6 a.m. Women’s boulder semifinals, men’s speed qualification
Wednesday, Aug. 7
2 a.m. – 5:15 a.m. Men’s lead semifinals, women’s speed finals
Thursday, Aug. 8
2 a.m. – 5:15 a.m. Women’s lead semifinals, men’s speed finals
Friday, Aug. 9
2 a.m. – 5:30 a.m. Men’s boulder/lead finals
Saturday, Aug. 10
2 a.m. – 5:30 a.m. Women’s boulder/lead finals