Our very own Luke Jamieson (IT Operations Engineer at The Climbing Hangar HQ) earned his place on the GB Paraclimbing Squad in January, putting him in good stead for Paraclimbing’s Paralympic debut in 2028. G’wed Luke!
Two-time British Champion Luke, who took bronze at last year’s European Championships in Switzerland, smashed the GB benchmarking event in Southampton at the start of the year. The event is a new selection process for 2025 with World Cup standard routes, putting climbers’ abilities to the test and combining their results with their previous season’s performance – or their ranking from open comps, if they haven’t competed on the GB team before.
What is the GB Squad?
Being on the squad will allow Luke, 25, to access the resources he needs to perform at his best in the Paraclimbing World Championships in Seoul, South Korea, this September. This will put him on the right path for the Paralympics in 2028, which is super exciting!
Climbing is for everyone
While every comp counts for Luke in his dream of reaching the Paralympics, his mission is to prove that climbing is for everyone. Living with Cerebral Palsy, climbing has given Luke a level of freedom that is unparalleled. He fell in love with climbing at uni and after bumping into GB Coach Jamie Vardy at the wall, discovered competition climbing – which changed his life.
Training for comps improved Luke’s strength and flexibility like nothing else had ever done before. He wants to inspire others to get into climbing and says: “don’t let anybody tell you that you can’t do it!”
A big year ahead
This year will set Luke up for his Paralympic campaign. He’s competing in the Paraclimbing World Cup in Innsbruck, Austria, in June, ahead of September’s World Championships in South Korea. Whilst there are other comps in the Paraclimbing calendar, he needs to prioritise which ones to focus on, balancing his overall health and his work at TCH, to be where he wants to be in 2028 (LA, baby!).
The International Federation of Sport Climbing have put forward Luke’s competition category (RP1) for approval to the International Paralympic Committee for the LA28 Paralympics, alongside AU2, AL2, and B2. Now all that’s left is to get behind Luke, as he competes for his place at the Games over the coming years.
You can do it Luke, The Climbing Hangar community is rooting for you!
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