Shauna Coxsey admits her first serious attempt at speed climbing left her thinking that the Olympics were not for her after all.
As a child, she fell in love with lead climbing and for the past decade the 28-year-old Briton has been one of the world's best boulderers. But when sport climbing was added to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics program, it created a dilemma.
To win the gold medal, a climber must excel in three very different disciplines — lead, bouldering and speed — and while the first two were as natural to Coxsey as walking, the last took her out of her comfort zone.