Aniya Holder cracks African record but falls short in Paris

Paris — Aniya Holder became an African record holder at the Paris Olympics on Monday, though it didn’t help her against the world record holder in the speed-climbing competition.

The Gqeberha rambler soared up the wall in 9.12 sec on her second attempt in the seeding round, but she still ranked in last place, earning a first-round showdown against Poland’s Aleksandra Miroslaw, who had lowered her own mark to 6.06.

Not that it mattered for Holder, who had achieved what she set out to. “I got my record and my PB [personal best] so I’m happy,” said the 23-year-old, who celebrated her birthday on Sunday.

The continental mark had stood at 10.77, but her previous best coming into the competition had been 9.58, although it hadn’t been achieved on a certified wall.

“I just got a new PB actually in the warm-up zone,” she said. “I’ve had four PBs in the last two days so I’m very happy with that. This is day 36 in my life on a full wall — I’m mean these people train 36 days a month,” she said with a laugh. “Not really, but you know what I mean.”

Standard speed walls are 15m, but she practised on a 6m wall in Gqeberha, visiting Johannesburg once a month to train on a 15m wall that did not satisfy international requirements. Johannesburg and Cape Town are the only cities in SA with 15m walls.

Holder picked up speed climbing less than two years ago, and won the SA championships in her first outing and Olympic qualification in her second.

“You can come from nothing and still make it,” said Holder, who made the switch after an injury stopped her from competing in lead and boulder.

“I mean I beat everyone in Joburg and Cape Town and they both have walls. I haven’t had the easiest life story. So you can still do it.”

Holder, one of seven siblings, lost her father to cancer in 2020. Her mother walked out when she was young. She said she was keen to keep going for the 2028 showpiece.

“I’m definitely going for LA if I can, just keep trying to break the record, get as fast as possible. I’m really hoping [Gqeberha] just gets a wall,” she said, adding she wasn’t keen to relocate to Johannesburg.

“I can definitely get eight [seconds] ... if I can get out those little niggles. Once that happens, hopefully I just need to get faster and smoother. But so far I’m still quite ... jolty. I’m still learning.

“You want to keep constant, you want to not stop. The very first move is my biggest weakness where I sort of catch that, stop and carry on. So if I can smooth that out, I can get eight. And then hopefully I can get it down past eight to seven-ish.”

Holder pointed out her training schedule had changed when she arrived in Paris because she suddenly had access to a proper wall.

“All the other training [went] out the window. We just focused on the wall which was really nice,” she said, but added she was keen to get back to regular practice.

“I can’t wait to get back to training to be honest. I would love to just keep going, set my new training schedule. I quite like a plan ... like four years up to the next Olympics.”