Adam Ondra (born February 5, 1993) is a Czech professional rock climber, specializing in lead climbing, bouldering, and competition climbing. In 2013, Rock & Ice described Ondra as a prodigy and the leading climber of his generation. Ondra is the only male athlete to have won World Championship titles in both disciplines in the same year (2014) and is one of the two male athletes (alongside Sorato Anraku in 2023) to have won the World Cup series in both disciplines (lead climbing in 2009, 2015, and 2019 and bouldering in 2010). At age 13, Ondra redpointed his first graded sport route. Rock & Ice noted that by 2011, he was "onsighting 5.14c's by the handful", and by 2013, had "more or less repeated every hard route in the world—easily". By end 2018, Ondra had climbed 1,550 sport routes between grades and, of which one was a , three were , and three were onsights of. Ondra is the first climber to redpoint a route with a proposed grade of (Silence, 2017), the first climber to redpoint a route (Change, 2012), the first-ever to flash a route (Supercrackinette, 2018), and the second ever to onsight a route (Cabane au Canada, 2013). Although primarily known for sport climbing, Ondra has repeated or established difficult big wall climbs, traditional climbs, and boulder problems. Because of his achievements, Ondra is often referred to as the world's strongest climber.

Climbing career

Early years

Ondra started climbing at the age of six; his parents are climbers, and they shared their passion with him. In 1999, at age six, in Rovinj, Croatia, Ondra climbed a route with bolts every half meter. He quickly rose to fame, appearing in climbing magazines as his accomplishments became both more impressive and frequent:

Competition climbing

In 2007 and 2008, he won the IFSC World Youth Championship, category Youth B. In 2009, at age sixteen, Ondra competed for the first time in the Lead Climbing World Cup, finishing ahead of Spanish Patxi Usobiaga and Japanese Sachi Amma. In 2010, he won the Bouldering World Cup, beating Austrian climber Kilian Fischhuber and Tsukuru Hori from Japan, becoming the first athlete in history to win the World Cup in both disciplines (lead and bouldering). Ondra failed to qualify for the 2020 Summer Olympics at the 2019 IFSC Climbing World Championships, as he was disqualified for accidentally toeing a bolt during the lead climbing portion of the combined event. However, at the Olympic qualifying event in Toulouse later that year, he managed to secure a place in the Olympic Games, despite falling ill after reaching the finals of the event. In April 2021 Ondra won gold in the bouldering discipline at the IFSC World Cup in Meiringen, Switzerland. This marked his 20th World Cup gold medal. Ondra finished in sixth place at the 2020 Summer Olympics in the Boulder, Lead and Speed Combined and also sixth place in the 2024 Summer Olympics Boulder and Lead Combined.

Rock climbing

During a March 2011 trip to Spain, Ondra became the second-ever person to onsight a route, after Patxi Usobiaga. On October 4, 2012, Ondra redpointed Change in the Hanshelleren Cave, Flatanger Municipality, Norway, the world's first-ever route to receive a grade of. On February 7, 2013, Ondra ascended La Dura Dura in Oliana, Catalonia, Spain, his second after Change. He worked on this project with American climber Chris Sharma, and the first ascent took Ondra nine weeks. On February 9, 2013, two days after La Dura Dura, Ondra succeeded in the second ascent of the route, Fight or flight, first climbed by Sharma in 2011. On July 9, 2013, Ondra realized the second-ever onsight of a route in history, after Alexander Megos, with the ascent of Cabane au Canada in Rawyl, Switzerland. On November 21, 2016, Ondra completed the second free ascent of the 1,000-metre granite route, The Dawn Wall, a 32-pitch grade big wall climbing route at El Capitan in the Yosemite Valley. The route was widely regarded as the hardest big wall climbing route in the world. Ondra led every pitch and completed the project in 8 days (the first ascenders, Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson alternated leads, and spent 19 days on the wall). On April 23, 2017, Ondra set a new highpoint for Black Diamond's The Project indoor sport route in Stockholm, Sweden, which is believed to be the hardest in the world. On September 3, 2017, after about 4 years of dedicated work and training, Ondra climbed Silence, in the Hanshelleren Cave in Flatanger Municipality, Norway. Silence was the world's first-ever route to have a proposed grade of. On February 10, 2018, Ondra completed the world's first-ever flash of a confirmed route with his ascent of Super Crackinette in Saint-Léger du Ventoux, France.

Rankings

Climbing World Cup

Climbing World Championships

Youth Adult

Climbing European Championships

Rock Master

Number of medals in the Climbing European Youth Cup

Lead

Number of medals in the Climbing World Cup

Lead

Bouldering

Single-pitch routes

The table below shows the large number of routes graded or more ascended by Adam Ondra in about 16 years, from August 2, 2002 (when he redpointed his first 8a) to November 10, 2018. The total number is 1554, of which one was at and 725 were onsighted, including four onsights at and one flash at.

Redpoint

On-sight

Boulder problems

Ondra won the bouldering gathering Melloblocco in 2008, 2009 2010 and 2011. He climbed 293 boulder problems between and. Specifically:

Multi-pitch routes

Filmography

Books

Awards