Simon Lorenzi (born 1 January 1997) is a Belgian professional rock climber specializing in sport climbing, bouldering and competition climbing. Lorenzi is one of the very few climbers to have repeated a V17 (9A) bouldering route, and the third climber to solve Burden of Dreams, the first-ever V17 (9A) graded boulder route. Lorenzi also made the first ascent of Soudain Seul, a V16/V17 boulder.[2]

Simon Lorenzi
Personal information
NationalityBelgian
Born (1997-01-01) January 1, 1997 (age 27)[1]
Barchon, Blegny, Belgium
OccupationProfessional climber
Height168 cm (5 ft 6 in)[1]
Climbing career
Type of climber
Ape index+12 cm (5 in)[1]
Highest grade
First ascents
  • Soudain Seul (V16/V17, 2023)
  • Big Conviction (V16, 2022)
  • Coup d'État (9a (5.14d), 2020)

Early life

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Lorenzi was born in Belgium and started climbing at age 2 with his father Claude Lorenzi, who was one of Belgium's leading rock climbers of the 1990s, and who created Belgium's first 8c (5.14b) graded sport climbing route, La traction universelle, in 1994.[3]

Climbing career

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Competition climbing

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Lorenzi began his competition climbing career in 2010 when he "unexpectedly" won a Belgium Youth Cup competition.[3] By 2016, he had won the gold medal in the Junior category at the IFSC Climbing World Youth Championships for competition lead climbing.[4]

Bouldering

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In February 2021, Lorenzi made the first ascent of Soudain Seul, a sit-start to Dave Graham's 2008 8C (V15) graded bouldering route in Fontainebleau called The Island, which was later extended by two small moves by Vincent Pochon in 2010 to become The Big Island, also at the 8C (V15) grade.[4] Soudain Seul was considered one of the "last great problems" in Fontainebleau.[5] Lorenzi proposed a grade of V17 (9A), and at the time, the only other boulder in the world with such a grade was Nalle Hukkataival's 2016 problem, Burden of Dreams. Subsequent repeats by Nico Pelorson in 2021 and Camille Coudert in 2022 softened the likely grade to V16/V17.[6]

In December 2022, he became the fourth climber to repeat Shawn Raboutou's 2022 problem Alphane, which has since become accepted as having a grade of V17 (9A).[7] After completing Alphane, Lorenzi said that he felt Soudain Seul was at least as hard as Alphane.[8][7] In December 2023, he became only the third climber to repeat Burden of Dreams, the world's first-ever V17 (9A) graded bouldering route.[2]

Notable ascents

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V17 (9A):

V16/V17 :

V16 (8C+):

V15 (8C):

9a (5.14d):

Rankings

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IFSC Climbing World Cup

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Discipline 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024
Lead 75 69 38 72 41 93 35
Bouldering 66 53 10 39 16

Climbing World Championships

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Youth[18]

Discipline 2016
Junior
Lead 1

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "Profile: Simon LORENZI". International Federation of Sport Climbing. 2024. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d Potter, Stephen (2 January 2024). "Interview: Simon Lorenzi Makes Third Ascent of 'Burden of Dreams'". Climbing. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d Potter, Stephen (1 February 2022). "Simon Lorenzi Establishes Another V16 Low Start to Fontainebleau's Classic The Island". Climbing. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  4. ^ a b c "Simon Lorenzi talks Soudain seul, his 9A boulder problem at Fontainebleau in France". PlanetMountain. February 2021. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  5. ^ a b "Soudain Seul, the trailer of Simon Lorenzi's boulder at Fontainebleau". PlanetMountain. October 2021. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  6. ^ a b "Soudain Seul (V16/V17 - 8C+/9A): Is this the REAL 2nd V17?". HardClimbs. 2024. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  7. ^ a b c Potter, Stephen (17 December 2022). "Simon Lorenzi on Making the 4th Ascent of "Alphane"". Climbing. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  8. ^ Potter, Stephen (21 February 2024). "Will Bosi Gets Second Ascent of 'Return of the Sleepwalker'—Confirms V17". Climbing. Retrieved 21 February 2024.
  9. ^ "Simon Lorenzi makes his Big Conviction 8C+ at Fontainebleau". PlanetMountain. January 2022. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  10. ^ "Simon Lorenzi repeats Off the Wagon Low 8C+ in Val Bavona, Switzerland". PlanetMountain. November 2021. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  11. ^ "La Révolutionnaire, another 8C+ for Simon Lorenzi!" [fr]. Grimper (in French). 22 February 2022. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  12. ^ Redaktion (2022-09-06). "Simon Lorenzi climbs Foundation's Edge (8C) at breakneck speed and targets Alphane (9A)". Lacrux Klettermagazin. Retrieved 2024-02-23.
  13. ^ "Climbing History | Satan i Helvete (Bas) 8B+". climbing-history.org. Retrieved 2024-02-23.
  14. ^ "No sooner said than done: Simon Lorenzi climbs the Power of Now (8c)". 13 July 2021.
  15. ^ https://www.8a.nu/news/the-big-island-8c-b+-by-simon-lorenzi
  16. ^ https://www.8a.nu/news/coup-detat-9a-fa-by-simon-lorenzi
  17. ^ Quentin Coster. "Simon Lorenzi enchaîne "Action Directe", son premier 9a !" (in French). Archived from the original on 2017-05-13. Retrieved 2017-05-15.
  18. ^ "Official website of the International Federation of Sport Climbing".
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