Sports / Climbing

Climbing

Eight years on the Dutch national team — from youth competition to World Cups, a senior national title and 9a.After more than a decade of national and international competition, I stepped back from the international circuit while continuing to compete nationally. In 2026, I finished second at the Dutch Lead Championship.

Margalef · Spain · Nov 2022

“Underground” · Arco · 2021

National Champion

Lead Climbing · Adults · 2021

5× Champion

Dutch Youth Championships

34th

Best World Cup Result

Selected chapters

01The pursuit takes shape · Age 13–16

I wanted to see how far I could take my climbing

By my mid-teens, I was training around 30 hours a week, often twice a day. Because the national training centres were far from home, reaching them could add roughly 35 hours of travel in a peak week. School had to fit around both.

Eventually, simply adding more hours was no longer the answer. If I wanted to find the limits of what I could become as a climber, I needed to use those hours better — and I needed an environment the Netherlands could not provide.

Progress is not measured in hours.

It is measured in what those hours produce.

02Moved to Innsbruck · Age 16

At sixteen, I moved to Innsbruck, Austria, while finishing high school remotely. I wanted to find out how far I could take my climbing, so I put myself in an environment built around that goal: world-class training facilities, mountains within immediate reach, and strong climbers around me every day.

Training became the priority. I worked with my coach Ingo Filzwieser alongside athletes from the Austrian and German national teams and the many international climbers who regularly came through Innsbruck.

I studied the school material independently and returned to the Netherlands once each semester for a few days to take my exams, then went back to Innsbruck.

03First 9a · Age 19

Underground

9a · Arco · 2021

My first 9a, climbed in Arco in 2021.

04Senior national champion · Age 19

Dutch National Lead Championship

Lead · Sittard · 2021

1st

05International circuit · 2019–2023

Years on the international circuit

Six years of international competition, from youth world championships through several seasons of senior World Cups to the European Games.

Selected international results

2017 — see this year in the complete competition record: 9th · Youth World ChampionshipsBoulder · Innsbruck
2021 — see this year in the complete competition record: 13th · Youth World ChampionshipsLead · Voronezh
2022 — see this year in the complete competition record: 34th · World CupLead · Chamonix
2023 — see this year in the complete competition record: European GamesKraków · Team NL

Four results from a much longer record. View complete competition record →

06Back on the national podium · Age 23

Dutch National Lead Championship

Lead · Nieuwegein · May 2026

2nd

Coaching & training

Passing On What I’ve Learned

Competition has also become something I share with other climbers. Over the years I have given youth workshops and climbing sessions, and I now give a weekly training session within the Climbing Network competition team, sharing techniques, training ideas and lessons from my own competition experience.

More speaking and workshop experience →