Toby Roberts
 Roberts in 2022 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Toby Alexander Roberts | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | English | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 15 March 2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Education | Edgeborough School, Surrey King Edward's School, Surrey | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 177 cm (5 ft 10 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | tobyroberts | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Ape index | +10 cm (4 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Toby Alexander Roberts (born 15 March 2005) is an English rock climber who specialises in competition climbing and outdoor sport climbing. He is the youngest British climber to redpoint a 9a (5.14d)-graded sport climbing route. He is the 2024 Olympic champion in the combined boulder and lead discipline in sport climbing and the 2024 World Cup champion in both lead and combined.
Early life and education
Roberts comes from Elstead, Surrey, the son of Tristian and Marina Roberts.
Roberts attended Edgeborough School, an independent coeducational day preparatory school in Frensham (a village near Farnham) in Surrey, where he was introduced to climbing in 2013, followed by King Edward's School, an independent boarding and day school in Wormley (a village near Witley), also in Surrey.
Climbing career
Rock climbing
In 2015, at only ten years of age, Roberts redpointed the historic 8a (5.13b) graded British sport climbing route, Raindogs, at Malham Cove in North Yorkshire. In 2020, aged 15, Roberts became the youngest British climber to climb a 9a (5.14d) graded sport route when he redpointed Steve McClure's Rainshadow, also at Malham Cove. In 2021, Roberts became the 12th climber to redpoint Ben Moon's historic sport route, Hubble, at Raven Tor (the world's first 8c+-graded route).
Competition climbing
Roberts first started competing in international youth competition climbing events in 2019. In 2022, Roberts began his transition towards the international senior competition circuit, winning a bronze medal in lead climbing at the IFSC Climbing World Cup in Edinburgh in September 2022.
In May 2023, Roberts won his first World Cup medal in bouldering with a third-place finish in Salt Lake City. He went on to win his first World Cup gold medal in bouldering with a victory in Brixen in June 2023 followed by his first World Cup gold medal in lead climbing with a victory in Chamonix in July 2023, becoming the first British climber to win a gold medal in both the bouldering and lead climbing disciplines. In October 2023, he became the first male British climber–and the second British climber after Shauna Coxsey–to secure a spot in the Olympics for climbing by winning the 2023 European Qualifier in Laval.
At the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, Roberts won a gold medal in the combined bouldering and lead climbing event, becoming the first British climber to win an Olympic medal related to climbing since members of the 1922 British Mount Everest expedition in 1924. Subsequently, he finished first overall in the 2024 Lead World Cup series and first overall in the 2024 Lead rankings and Combined rankings.
Roberts was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2026 New Year Honours for services to sport climbing.
Rankings
IFSC Climbing World Cup
| Discipline | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boulder | 4 | 5 | 12 | |
| Lead | 20 | 5 | 1 | 8 |
| Combined | 1 |
IFSC Climbing World Championships
Youth
| Discipline | 2022 Youth A |
|---|---|
| Boulder | 2 |
| Lead | 2 |
Senior
| Discipline | 2023 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Boulder | 19 | 17 |
| Lead | 9 | 25 |
| Boulder & Lead | 5 | - |
Number of medals at the IFSC Climbing World Cup
Lead
| Season | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 2023 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 2024 | 2 | 2 | 4 | |
| 2025 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Total | 3 | 1 | 4 | 8 |
Bouldering
| Season | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| 2024 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 2025 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Total | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
Number of medals at the Summer Olympics
Combined
| Olympics | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Total | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Notable ascents
Redpointed routes
9a+ (5.15a):
- Gancho Perfecto – Margalef (Spain) – 2024. Months after winning his Olympic gold medal, Roberts repeated the popular Chris Sharma route, marking his hardest send to date.
9a (5.14d):
- Batman – Malham Cove (United Kingdom) – 2021. Became the youngest British climber to redpoint a 9a/+-graded route at age 16.
- Rainshadow – Malham Cove (United Kingdom) – 2020. Became the youngest British climber to redpoint a 9a-graded route at age 15.
8c+ (5.14c):
Other:
- Revelations 8b (5.13d) – Raven Tor (United Kingdom) – October 2016. Became the youngest British climber to redpoint an 8b-graded route at age 11 by repeating Jerry Moffatt's historic sport climbing route.
- Raindogs 8a (5.13b) – Malham Cove (United Kingdom) – October 2015. Became the youngest British climber to redpoint an 8a-graded route at age 10 by repeating the historic sport climbing route.
See also
