Alannah Yip has made history as the first-ever Canadian athlete to score a medal in sport climbing at a major games competition.
On Tuesday, Yip of North Vancouver won a bronze medal in the boulder and lead competition at the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile.
During the event, 29-year-old Yip finished two of four climbs in the boulder stage to move on to the lead stage in third position. There, she made it past a section that had tripped up many of the other competitors, before reaching the top with a score that was good enough to take the bronze medal.
“I’m so happy and so proud to have won the first sport climbing medal at a major games for Canada,” she said in a statement to Climbing Escalade Canada. “I’ve been climbing for a long time, and I’ve seen climbing come through a lot of different stages.
“When I was a kid, I never could have imagined that climbing would be part of the Olympics or any major games, and now to have been to both, and to win a medal is just incredible,” Yip said.
Yip competed for Team Canada in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where she finished 14th in women’s combined sport climbing. She's aiming to qualify for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics next year.
