Muriel Sarkany
Muriel Sarkany is a Belgian professional rock climber who specialized in competition lead climbing where she is known for winning five Climbing World Cups. She also specialized in outdoor sport climbing and is considered the List of [first ascents (sport climbing)#Redpointed by women|fourth-ever female climber in history] to redpoint a -graded route, which was PuntX, in Gorges du Loup, in FRA.
Climbing career
Competition climbing
Sarkany started climbing at the age of 17 and at the age of 18 started participating in international lead climbing competitions. She became Youth World Champion in Basel in 1992.She won the silver medal three times for lead climbing at the World Championships, and the gold medal in 2003.
Sarkany was the 1998 European Lead Champion and won the bronze medal at the 2002 European Lead Championships.
After a break from competition climbing in 2005 and 2006, she returned in 2007 to win the silver medal at the World Championships in Avilles, and the bronze medal at the World Cup that year.
She won the Lead Climbing World Cup 5 times in 1997, 1999, 2001, 2002, and 2003.
She retired in 2010, and as of 2022, still holds the record for the most Lead World Cup gold medals.
Rock climbing
After retiring from competition climbing, Sarkany devoted herself to outdoor rock climbing. In November 2013, at the age of 39, she became the fourth-ever woman in history to climb a graded route when she ascended PuntX in the.In 2016, at 43 years old, Sarkany ascended Era Vella in Margalef in Spain, becoming the first woman aged over 40 to climb a graded route.
Rankings
World Championships Lead Climbing
Early on, she won a gold medal in the junior category. In the adult difficulty, after three silver medals at the 1997, 1999, and 2001 UIAA Climbing World Championships, Muriel Sarkany became the 2003 World Climbing Champion and is a finalist in the 2007 IFSC Climbing World Championships.Climbing World Cup
Source:Muriel won 31 podiums at the World Cup of Difficulty.
- Winner of the difficulty world cup for the years 1997, 1999, 2001, 2002 and 2003.
- Silver medal for the years 1995, 1998, 2000 and 2004.
- Bronze medal in 2007.
| Discipline | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 |
| Lead | 24 | 9 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 15 | 3 | 12 | 9 | 20 |
Climbing World Championships
Source:| Discipline | 1993 | 1995 | 1997 | 1999 | 2001 | 2003 | 2005 | 2007 | 2009 |
| Lead | 17 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 2 | 24 |
Climbing European Championships
Source:| Discipline | 1996 | 1998 | 2000 | 2002 | 2006 | 2008 | 2010 |
| Lead | 5 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 12 | 13 | 18 |
| Bouldering | - | - | - | - | - | 12 | - |
Number of medals in the Climbing World Cup
Lead
| Season | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1995 | 2 | 2 | ||
| 1996 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 1997 | 3 | 1 | 4 | |
| 1998 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 1999 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 2000 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 2001 | 2 | 3 | 5 | |
| 2002 | 4 | 2 | 6 | |
| 2003 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| 2004 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| 2006 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 2007 | 3 | 2 | ||
| Total | 21 | 20 | 6 | 47 |