World Records for Rope Climbing

Sources and Links:
Dale Harder: Strength & Speed Record Book
Police Gazette Sporting Annual (various editions)
Spalding's Athletic Almanac (various editions)
www.svetsplhu.cz/zebricky for the statistic of Czech contests
Volker Kluge: Olympische Sommerspiele, Die Chronik, Bd. I
More about the history of rope climbing can be found here.

If you have information about historic records that are missing in these statistics or are interested in setting a world record (in one of the mentioned categories or a new one), please contact us at info@recordholders.org.

Rope climbing used to be an Olympic event in 1986, 1904, 1906, 1924 and 1932. In the USA, it was considered as a gymnastic event by the Amateur Athletic Union and the NCAA.
Contests on high school, college and national level took place until the early 60's. From 1888-1962, rope climbing was part of the national AAU championships. In the Czech Republic, modern contests started in 1992. In Germany, rope climbing is one of several categories in what is called maritime sports.

THE RULES

Competitors start from a seated position on the floor with legs outstretched directly under the rope. The rope hangs freely and does not have knots.
The attempt starts by a start signal. Time is taken when the climber reaches the top. (Note: The Czech contests for 8 m and 14 m have self-starts instead of a start signal - which produces faster times)
The legs must neither be used for climbing nor for getting momentum by pushing off the floor.
When reaching the top, the climbers have to touch an electrinic measurement device. In the past, they had to ring a bell or touch a panel covered with soot (and had to present their fingertips as a proof that they reached the top).

4 METRES , FEMALE

5.41 sec

Lenka Trnková (TCH)

Prague, 1998

15 FEET [4.57 METRES], FEMALE

7.7 sec

Alicia Weber (USA)

1 April 2011 in Clermont, Florida, USA

5 METRES, FEMALE

8.3 sec

Alicia Weber (USA)

9 April 2011 in Clermont, Florida, USA

18 FEET [5.486 METRES], MALE

5.2 sec	B. Sanford (USA)	2 April 1892
3.6 sec	Edward Kunath (USA)	AAU Championships, Jersey City, Mar. 25, 1902

20 FEET [6.096 METRES], MALE

Times before 1948 are missing - any help in completing the statistics is welcome!

4.1 sec
3.8 sec	Thomas Gucker III (USA)	1936
3.1 sec	Don Perry (USA) Sanford Werner (USA)	5 January 1948 in Los Angeles, California, USA 5 April 1951 in Detroit, Michigan, USA
2.9 sec	Don Perry (USA)	4 February 1950, Pasadena, California, USA
2.8 sec	Don Perry (USA) Robert Manning (USA) Paul Davis (USA) Garvin S. Smith (USA)	NCAA Championships, Champaign, Illinois 3 April 1954 AAU Championships 1958 NCAA Championships 1962 SPAAU Senior Gymnastics Finals 1958

20 FEET [6.096 METRES], FEMALE

12.68 sec	Bonnie Burrow (USA)	June 2008 in Van Nuys, California, USA
10.6 sec	Alicia Weber (USA)	9 April 2011 in Clermont, Florida, USA

21 FEET [6.4 METRES], MALE

6.6 sec	Edward Kunath (USA)	17 March 1899
5.6 sec	Edward Lindenbaum (USA)	in New York, 12 February 1914

25 FEET [7.62 METRES], MALE

times between 1901 and 1947 are missing - any help in completing the statistics is welcome!

6.8 sec	B. F. Sanford (USA) Edward Kunath (USA)
6.6 sec	Edward Kunath (USA)	AAU Championships in New York, 17 March 1899
6.4 sec	Edward Kunath (USA)	Sept. 1, 1901 in New York
4.7 sec	Garvin S. Smith (USA)	19 April 1947 in Los Angeles

unofficial times:
4.2 sec Garvin S. Smith (USA), National AAU Championships 1947 in Los Angeles
4.1 s Garvin S. Smith, at the SPAAU Senior Gymnastics Finals
3.9 sec Don Perry, May 1948 in Los Angeles

8 METRES, MALE

7.2 sec	Bedřich Šupčík (TCH)	Olympic Games in Paris, 20 July 1924
6.7 sec	Raymond Henry ("Benny") Bass (USA)	Olympic Games in Los Angeles, 10 August 1932
5.58 sec	Martin Masár (SVK)	Prague, 15 June 1997
5.30 sec	Aleš Novák (TCH) VIDEO	Bedřich Šupčík Memorial, Sokol Příbram, 21 March 2009
5.22 sec	Aleš Novák (TCH)	Czech Championships in Olomouc, 5 December 2009
4.87 sec	Aleš Novák (TCH) VIDEO	Czech Championships in Olomouc, 5 December 2009

8 METRES , FEMALE

12.02 sec

Lenka Trnková (TCH)

Prague, 1999

35 FEET [10.668 METRES], MALE

11.8 sec

Edward Lindenbaum (USA)

2 May 1914

14 METRES, MALE

Nikolaos Andriakopoulos (GRE) won the Olympic rope climbing on a 14 metres rope on 10 April 1896 in Athens in 23.4 seconds.

15.44 sec	Josef Křivánek (TCH)	Příbram, 2002
15.28 sec	Martin Matĕj (TCH)	Nové Město nad Metují, 24 June 2006
15.07 sec	Štěpán Muchka (TCH)	Nové Město nad Metují, 24 June 2006
14.76 sec	Štěpán Muchka (TCH)	Nové Město nad Metují, 24 June 2006
14.61 sec	Štěpán Muchka (TCH)	Nové Město nad Metují, 28 June 2009
14.03 sec	Aleš Novák (TCH)	Nové Město nad Metují, 27 June 2010

1 MINUTE, MALE

length of the rope: 5 metres

18.7 m	Daniel Fuertes Olles (ESP)	for a Guinness TV show, Madrid 25 May 2006
19.2 m	Javier Fernandez Mora (ESP)	for a Guinness TV show, Beijing, 22 June 2009
27.8 m	Marcus Bondi (AUS) VIDEO	for a Guinness TV show, Sydney, 31 January 2010

1 MINUTE, FEMALE

15.0 m

Alicia Weber (USA)

9 April 2011 in Clermont, Florida, USA

100 x 30 FEET, MALE

10:56 hours

Sgt. Sam Sheriff (GBR)

14 December 2010 in the gymnasion at 45 Commando Royal Marines in Arbroath, Scotland

LONGEST DISTANCE

Anouk Garnier (France) scaled up a free-hanging rope of nearly 110 metres [361 feet] from the ground up to the second floor of the Eiffel Tower in Paris on 10 April 2024. She needed 18 minutes for the climb. (VIDEO)

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