Adam Ondra

As of 2019, Ondra is working towards qualifying for the 2020 Summer Olympics. He failed to qualify at the 2019 IFSC Climbing World Championships as he was disqualified for accidentally toeing a bolt during the lead climbing portion of the combined event. However, at the olympic qualifying event in Toulouse later that year, he managed to secure his selection for the olympic games even though he fell ill after making it through to the finals of the event.

On February 10, 2018, Ondra realized the first flash of a confirmed 9a+ route with his ascent of Super Crackinette in Saint-Léger du Ventoux, France. The route was first climbed by Alexander Megos after 3 days of work in 2016.

On November 12, 2018, Ondra onsighted Just do it (Smith Rock, Oregon, USA), a historic 8c+ route bolted by Alan Watts in 1989 and first ascended in 1992 by Jean-Baptiste Tribout. At that time, Just do it was considered the hardest route in the USA. It is a long slab (140 feet, 18 bolts) with many tricky moves and small holds hardly visible from the ground. This kind of classic route is considered to be particularly difficult to onsight, by both Adam Ondra and Alan Watts.

Ondra is famously the only climber to have redpointed a route with a proposed grade of 9c (5.15d) (Silence, September 3, 2017), the first climber to have redpointed a route with a proposed grade of 9b+ (5.15c) (Change, October 4, 2012), the first to flash a 9a+ (5.15a) route (Supercrackinette, February 10, 2018), and the second to onsight a 9a (5.14d) route (Cabane au Canada, July 9, 2013). According to The Economist, Ondra is "regarded as possibly the best climber ever to fondle rock".

On April 23, 2017, he set a new highpoint of the Black Diamond Project in Stockholm, Sweden believed to be the hardest indoor sport route in the world.

On September 3, 2017, after about 4 years of trials, Ondra climbed Silence, in the Hanshelleren Cave (Flatanger, Norway). At that point, the route was unclimbed and widely considered to be the most difficult project in the world, together with Le blond, a route which is still unclimbed, bolted by Chris Sharma in Oliana (ESP). Silence was the first route to receive a proposed grade of 9c (5.15d). The route was previously known as Project Hard.

On November 21, 2016, Ondra completed the second free ascent of The Dawn Wall, a 5.14d (9a) multi-pitch route at El Capitan in Yosemite Valley, California. The route is widely regarded as the hardest big wall in the world. Ondra was also the first person to lead every pitch. The first free ascent was completed by Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson in January 2015. They needed 19 days to complete the route (after 5 years to learn the moves), while Ondra needed only 8 days (after 3 weeks to learn the moves).

On February 7, 2013, Ondra sent La Dura Dura, in Oliana, Catalonia, Spain, his second 9b+ (5.15c) after Change. He worked on this project with Chris Sharma and the first ascent took Ondra nine weeks of work.

On February 9, 2013, just two days after La Dura Dura, Ondra succeeded in the second ascent of the 9b (5.15b) Fight or flight, first climbed by Sharma in 2011.

On July 9, 2013, Ondra realized the second 9a (5.14d) onsight in history after Alexander Megos, with the ascent of Cabane au Canada in Rawyl, Switzerland.

On October 4, 2012, Ondra redpointed Change, in the Hanshelleren Cave, Flatanger, Norway. It was the first route to receive a proposed grade of 9b+ (5.15c).

On October 29, 2012, Ondra flashed one of the Red River Gorge's hardest routes, Southern Smoke Direct 9a+ (5.15a), suggesting the grade of 9a (5.14d). On November 1, he onsighted Pure Imagination and The Golden Ticket, both 9a, suggesting the grade of 8c+.

Ondra started climbing at the age of 6. At age 13, he climbed his first route graded 9a (5.14d). Rock and Ice magazine states that by 2011, Ondra was "onsighting 5.14c’s by the handful", and by 2013 had "more or less repeated every hard route in the world—easily". As of November 2018, Ondra had climbed 1550 routes between grades 8a (5.13b) and 9c (5.15d), one of which was a 9c (5.15d), three were 9b+ (5.15c), and three were onsights of 9a (5.14d).

On March 2011, during a trip in Spain, Ondra became the second person ever to have onsighted 8c+ (5.14c) after Patxi Usobiaga. In only a few days he onsighted five 8c+ (5.14c) routes (two of which were on the same day).

In 2010, he also won the Bouldering World Cup, ahead of Austrian Kilian Fischhuber and Japanese Tsukuru Hori, and becoming the first athlete in history to win both the disciplines (lead and bouldering).

In 2009, at age sixteen, Ondra competed for the first time in the Lead Climbing World Cup, winning ahead of Spanish Patxi Usobiaga and Japanese Sachi Amma.

Ondra won the bouldering gathering Melloblocco in 2008, 2009 2010 and 2011.

In 2007 and 2008 he won the IFSC Youth World Championship, category Youth B.

The table below shows the large number of routes graded 8a (5.13b) or more ascended by Adam Ondra in about 16 years, from August 2, 2002 (when he redpointed his first 8a) to November 10, 2018. The total number is 1554, of which 1 was at 9c (5.15d) and 725 were onsighted, including 3 onsights at 9a (5.14d) and 1 flash at 9a+ (5.15a).

In 1999 (at age six) at Rovinj in Croatia Ondra easily climbed a 6a (5.10a) route with bolts every half meter. Soon he became famous in climbing magazines, as his achievements quickly grew more and more notable:

Adam Ondra (born February 5, 1993) is a Czech professional rock climber, specializing in lead climbing and bouldering. Described in 2013 as a prodigy and the leading climber of his generation, Ondra is the only male athlete to have won World Championship titles in both disciplines in the same year (2014). He holds an analogous record in the World Cup, being the only male athlete to have won the World Cup series in both disciplines (lead climbing in 2009, 2015 and 2019, and bouldering in 2010).