Monika Retschy

Retschy began climbing in indoor climbing walls when she was between eleven and twelve years old. She first decided to specialize in bouldering when she was sixteen.^[1] She was a founding member of Munich's Alpine Club competition climbing team in 2004, and was selected to the Bavarian squad in 2006.^[2]

In her first year of adult competition climbing in 2007, she finished 8th in the Munich National Championships.^[3] In 2009, 2011 and 2012 she was the German runner up.^[4] In 2010, she participated in the IFSC Climbing World Cup for the first time.^[5] From 2012 to 2017 she climbed for the German national team,^[6] taking part in all World Cup competitions.

In 2013, she won the German National Championships.^[7] That year, she reached fourth place in the 2013 European Bouldering Championships.^[8] She finished the 2013 World Cup season in 11th place internationally. That year, she featured in "Gimme Kraft!" a climbing documentary filmed in Café Kraft, Bavaria.^[9] In 2014, she finished in 7th place in bouldering at the IFSC Climbing World Championships,^[10] and that year again placed 11th in the world rankings.

During the 2015 season, she placed 14th in the overall world rankings for bouldering.^[11] That season, she placed eighth at the competition in Vail,^[12] 27th in Toronto,^[13] 4th at the European Championships in Innsbruck.^[14]

In 2016, she placed sixth at the IFSC Climbing World Cup in Chongqing,^[15] and then took second at the World Cup stage in Navi Mumbai, placing her fifth in the world rankings.^[16] That year, she became the German Bouldering champion for the second time and placed 20th at the World Climbing Championships in Paris.^[17] In June 2017, she became the German bouldering champion for the third time, after defending her 2016 title.^[18]

In July at the Wroclaw World Games, she placed fourth in the women's competition bouldering event.^[19] The next month, in August 2017 she announced her retirement from competitive sport at the Bouldering World Cup, after placing 31st.^[20] Retschy had been open about her intention to retire from competitive sport, as earning money from bouldering caused too much stress and pressure to perform.^[1][21]

Retschy studied sports science and was a trainer for the German Alpine Club's junior climbers in Munich.^[6] In March 2021, she is a trainer for the German Alpine Club in Kaiserslautern, Rhineland Palatinate.^[22][23]