Fort Worth-area 18-year-old ranks No. 1 worldwide in this Olympic sport
In 2023, the father of Fort Worth’s Annie Sanders told the Star-Telegram she would be the LeBron James of climbing. At the time, she was 15 years old and winning national championships.
Three years later, she is no longer an athlete with potential but a world-class competitor with a case to be the best in the sport at 18 years old. She is thriving on the circuit of World Climbing, the international governing body for competition climbing.
Sanders, competing against climbers in their athletic primes, ranks No. 1 worldwide in Lead climbing, which involves climbing with a harness and a belayer to protect athletes in case of a fall.
She is also ranked No. 2 in Boulder climbing, which is free climbing without a harness. Sanders is the only female climber to boast a top-three ranking in both categories.
Sanders is on a clear Olympic trajectory, as she is the only female U.S. athlete ranked within the top 14 of World Climbing’s Boulder and Lead rankings.
With her elite performances, she has carried the U.S. into the top three of the World Climbing team rankings. The U.S. ranks third in both Boulder and Lead, largely due to Sanders’ points.
Sanders’ latest competition was her best yet. She became the third woman to win gold medals in Lead and Boulder in a dominant showing at the World Climbing Series Prague event.
Sanders now has six total gold medals in Boulder and Lead, three in each discipline, in her young career.
“It was incredible,” Sanders told World Climbing. “I’m really tired. But it was super cool, and the crowd was super supportive. Yeah, I’m pretty excited.”
Olympics.com called her a “teenage sensation.” She is well on her way to competing at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, which will have a new medal format. For the first time, each climbing discipline (Boulder, Lead and Speed) will have its own standalone medal event.
That’s good news for Sanders, who could compete in two events now that Boulder and Lead are no longer combined into one category.
The events that will qualify climbers include the European Games, the Pan American Games, select World Climbing Championship events and Olympic Qualifier Series events. There is also one place per gender per discipline available for the U.S. as the host nation.
Sanders, who started climbing at age 7, is a Fort Worth native who previously attended an online schooling program within Grapevine-Colleyville ISD. She has trained at Grapevine’s Movement climbing gym.
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