Olympic High: an interview with Toby Roberts ahead of Paris 2024
GB Climbing's Toby Roberts talks training, mindset, hopes and fears for his first Olympic Games this summer.
This August, Toby Roberts will step out under the Olympic spotlights at Le Bourget Climbing Centre, Paris, to represent Great Britain in the biggest climbing competition in the world. For this nineteen year-old from Surrey, it will be a dream come true.
This will be the latest in a decade of standard-smashing climbs, both indoors and out, and a jaw dropping acceleration through the ranks from junior to senior, from national to global, from last-in-the-field to the very top.
Climbing started for Toby at school as an eight-year old when his science teacher introduced him to the sport. Aged just ten, he became the youngest Brit to climb the magic of 8a with the famous Raindogs at Malham Cove, North Yorkshire. Five years later he could say the same about 9a, climbing Rainshadow, again at Malham. Alongside outdoor triumphs he worked steadily thorough a plan that took him to junior comps, getting on the GB Climbing senior team then attending senior world cups.
Niall Grimes caught up with Toby and his dad Tristian, who shares Toby's success as his coach.
READ THE FULL ARTICLE IN SUMMIT #114
BMC members can access free Summit articles for more in depth climbing coverage.
Related Content
Article
Niall Grimes (aka Auntie Gravity) takes care of your burning climbing, hiking and mountaineering questions in Summit's latest Auntie Gravity regular 'advice' column.
Mountaineering Destinations
Discover this isolated peak rising high above the valleys of Val d’Hérens, Val d’Anniviers and Zermatt’s Mattertal with sustained climbing and reliable in most conditions for much of the year. Author, photographer and Mountain Guide Ben Tibbetts shares the details.
Rock Climbing Articles
This summer, rock climber, crime writer and first female British Mountain Guide Gwen Moffat turned 100. Read our interview with her in the Autumn issue of Summit.
Olympics News
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games have been a historic occasion for British climbing, marking a significant milestone in the sport's journey.
Performance News
Bursting onto the scene in 2024, 20-year-old Erin McNeice has cemented herself as one of the world’s best climbers. Qualifying for the finals in seventh, McNeice proved she was a force to be reckoned with.
Olympics News
In a thrilling conclusion to the Men's Sport Climbing finals at Paris 2024, Great Britain's Toby Roberts secured a sensational gold medal while Hamish McArthur takes an emotional fifth.
Performance News
Erin McNeice qualifies for Olympic final whilst Thompson-Smith finishes with a top-ten Lead performance.
Performance News
Following today’s Lead Semifinal, Great Britain are the only nation to qualify two athletes for Men’s Boulder & Lead Final.
Performance News
Erin McNeice and Molly Thompson-Smith put their first points on the scoreboard at Paris 2024, as the Women's Boulder Semifinal took place at Le Bourget yesterday, part of the Boulder & Lead event.
Performance News
The Men's Boulder Semifinal at Paris 2024 got underway today on the walls of Le Bourget, with four fresh boulders ready to be tackled. Today marked a moment for the history books as Great Britain’s Hamish McArthur and Toby Roberts made their Olympic debuts. They are the first men to represent Great Britain in Sport Climbing at the Olympic Games.
Performance News
Get ready for wall-to-wall action as the sport climbing competition at Paris 2024 kicks-off today with four Olympic debutants taking to the wall for Great Britain.
Indoor Climbing Articles
In a matter of days, 40 climbers from all around the globe will battle it out across three climbing disciplines of speed, lead and bouldering on the world's most watched wall of the year. Four British climbers will be among them representing Great Britain in Sport Climbing at Paris 2024 Olympic games. But how and where can you watch all the action? We have all the answers.
Olympics
With four GB Climbing athletes heading across the channel for the Olympic boulder and lead competitions starting Monday 5 August, not only are they bringing their A-game in terms of performance but, as part of the BMC, the whole team is supporting Paris 2024 in its bid to be the ‘greenest ever Games’.
Olympics News
The 2024 Olympic Games are underway, and the nation's eyes are firmly on Paris and all the Team GB athletes. As Sport Climbing makes its second-ever appearance at the Olympic Games, we get to witness a new chapter in history as four climbers step out onto the mats to represent Great Britain.
Rock Destinations
Filmmaker, photographer and writer Jessie Leong tackles Brigata Tridentina in the Dolomites, home to a dizzying amount of these iron pathways drilled in the mountains
Olympics Articles
A brief history of competition climbing
Olympics News
Four sport climbers will make their Olympic Games debuts this summer for Team GB as the British Olympic Association (BOA) name the team that will compete at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Performance News
The British Mountaineering Council (BMC) celebrates the historic inclusion of Paraclimbing in the LA28 Paralympic Sport Program. This landmark decision represents a significant milestone for the sport, reflecting its growing popularity globally.
Olympics News
The culmination of the Olympic Qualifying Series in Budapest saw GB Climbing athletes Erin McNeice, Hamish McArthur, and Molly Thompson-Smith qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics Games.
Performance News
Round Two of the Olympic Qualifying Series (OQS) kicked off in Budapest, marking the athletes' final opportunity to secure a spot for Paris 2024. As the heat was turned up on and off the wall the top 20 men’s and women’s Boulder & Lead semi-finalists have been confirmed.
Performance News
The Olympic Qualifier Series (OQS) is reaching its finale at the Ludovika Campus in Budapest this week. A total of 48 top climbers from around the globe will vie for their last chance to secure a spot in the Boulder & Lead event for Paris 2024.
Olympics News
Erin McNeice and Hamish McArthur put on a world-class show in the finals of Boulder & Lead competition at the Olympic Qualifier Series Shanghai, on Sunday (18 May).
Performance
The third day of the Olympic Qualifying Series (OQS) featured the men’s and women’s Boulder & Lead semi-finals, selecting the top-eight athletes to compete in the final.
Performance
Part one of the Olympic Qualifying Series in Shanghai, China, began today with the Boulder qualifying round. 46 men and 48 women are contesting the combined Boulder and Lead event at the city’s Urban Park over a four-day event on the Huangpu riverside, all in a bid to secure coveted spots at Paris 2024.
Performance News
The British Mountaineering Council (BMC) can today announce the lineup that will compete in Shanghai, China to represent the GB Climbing team at the first event of the Olympic Qualifying Series from Thursday 16 to Sunday 19 May 2024.
Performance News
The British Mountaineering Council (BMC) is proud to reaffirm our commitment to clean sport by backing UK Anti-Doping’s (UKAD’s) Clean Sport Week campaign from 13 - 17 May.
Mountaineering Destinations
For a view better than from Mont Blanc itself, try this exquisitely triangular summit with a space-age mountain hut perched on its flanks for a ski mountaineering weekend this spring or early summer. Author, photographer and Mountain Guide Ben Tibbets shows you the way.
Olympics News
GB Climbing’s Toby Roberts rounded off a formidable season with a victory at the 2023 European Boulder and Lead Olympic Qualifier event.
Performance
Read the BMC statement following the Competition Climbing Performance Group (CCPG) report.
Performance News
Elections for the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) Athletes’ Commission took place at the 2021 IFSC Climbing World Championships in Moscow, Russia, with Olympian Shauna Coxsey MBE, of Great Britain, elected as President.
Olympics Articles
GB Climbing works alongside promising young climbers to help create the stars of tomorrow. But how to do this? Niall Grimes talks to Tim Cunnington, the Coach Development Manager at GB Climbing to find out more about the thinking behind the process.
Performance
It’s been an exhilarating three days watching Sport Climbing’s debut at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and the fourth and final day was not one to disappoint either. Here's our report of the Women's Sport Climbing Final.
Performance News
Summary of Day 3 of the Sport Climbing Men's Finals at Tokyo 2020 Olympics
Performance News
Shauna Coxsey becomes the first climbing Olympian of Great Britain. Highlights of the second day of Sport Climbing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, the women's qualification round.
News
Highlights of first day of Sport Climbing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, the men's qualification round.
Olympics Articles
Did you know that alpinism used to be an Olympic sport? With sport climbing on the verge of making its Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020, we bring you six fascinating facts about the history of climbing, competing and the Olympics.
Performance News
The International Olympic Committee officially confirmed that Sport Climbing has been included on the sports programme of the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
Performance News
Shauna Coxsey became the first sport climber selected to represent Team GB at the Olympic Games.
Performance News
GB Climbing’s Shauna Coxsey has qualified for a Tokyo 2020 quota place at the Combined Event.