Erin McNeice

McNeice started climbing at the age of five^[4][5][6] when her father took her and her older brother to a climbing gym.^[5][6]

Aged 12, after four years living in Malaysia where she trained on larger climbing walls,^[4][6] McNeice entered her first national competition before eventually making it onto the Great Britain Climbing junior squad and going on to represent her country at the 2021 IFSC Climbing World Youth Championships, where she placed 5th in Bouldering and 10th in Lead.^[6]

In 2022, and still only 17-years-old, she became the youngest member of the Great Britain Climbing senior team.^[5][6]

McNeice won the British Lead senior title in 2022^[7] and 2023.^[8][9]

She took a bronze medal at the first Olympic Qualifier Series event in Shanghai, China, in May 2024.^[10][11][12]

The following month, McNeice matched that performance at the second event of the series in Budapest, Hungary, to book her spot at the 2024 Summer Olympics.^{[13][14][15][16][17]}

Her Olympic place was officially confirmed when Team GB named their climbing squad on 3 July 2024.^[18][19] At the Games in Paris, McNeice was 10th after the bouldering section of the semi-finals^[20][21] and then came seventh in the Lead round to qualify for the final in a combined seventh position.^[22][23] She finished fifth in the final.^[24][25][26]

On 3 October 2024, McNeice won her first IFSC Climbing World Cup medal, claiming bronze in the bouldering competition at the final event of the 2024 season in Seoul, South Korea.^[27][28] In doing so she became only the third British woman to win a medal at a Bouldering World Cup competition after Shauna Coxsey and Claire Bell.^[27][28] The result also meant McNeice finished ninth in the overall 2024 Bouldering World Cup standings.^[27]

On 26 January 2025, she won the British Bouldering Championships.^[29][30] On 9 February 2025, she also won the British Lead Climbing Championships and became double champion.^[31]

In April 2025, McNeice claimed her second world cup medal, taking bronze in the opening bouldering event of the season in Keqiao, Shaoxing, China.^[32] Later that month she won her first IFSC gold medal at the Lead World Cup in Wujiang, China, tied with South Korean climber Seo Chae-hyun.^{[33] [34]}

In May, McNeice won her second lead gold medal at the 2025 IFSC World Cup in Bali.^[35][36]

The following month, she won her first boulder World Cup gold at the 2025 IFSC World Cup in Bern, Switzerland, making her the first British woman to win a World Cup in two sport climbing disciplines.^[37][38]

In September, a fourth place finish in Koper, Slovenia, was enough to see McNeice win the overall World Cup Lead title, becoming the first British female climber to do so.^[39]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Erin McNeice.

• Shauna Coxsey