Ep 4: Grace Crowley - Pro Speed Climbing as a Non-Binary Athlete

Thanks for tuning into the podcast! Grace is a speed climber on the Australian team who only started climbing in late 2015 and has been competing in world cups since 2019 at the age of 15 (only 4 years of climbing before becoming world level?!?!). Grace is also open about sharing their experience being a non-binary athlete within competitive sports.Guest links:https://instagram.com/gracecrowlyeReference links:Classic Speed Climbing: VideoAdidas Rockstars: YT ChannelArco Rock Master: 2023 DuelPsicobloc: WebsiteTimestamps of discussion topics0:00 - Introduction1:17 - Covid?!?!3:24 - Climbing for Australia as an American5:35 - How Grace got into climbing and competing8:18 - Making the national team after only 4 years of climbing12:01 - Competing in boulder vs speed14:51 - Deciding to focus on speed16:29 - What makes a good speed athlete?17:20 - Bad habits that need to be broken19:49 - How to train for speed23:30 - Can you train without a speed wall?27:42 - Does team Australia train together?29:21 - 2021 Visa Nightmare32:53 - Competing as a non-binary athlete34:50 - Would you prefer a separate, non-gendered category?36:52 - Do you feel accepted within the climbing community?38:54 - Reflecting on the 2023 season41:06 - Readiness for November competition43:54 - How The Olympics will impact 2024 World Cups47:37 - Upcoming goals?48:53 - Discord Q: Has it been hard finding coaches/walls?51:18 - Discord Q: Interest in speed bouldering?54:40 - Discord Q: Speed climbing outdoors?56:33 - Discord Q: Future of speed climbing + formats?1:02:46 - Outro