Molly Thompson-Smith is the UK’s shining light in Lead Climbing. Five times National Champion at only 20 years old, she is currently ranked 7th in the World and set to compete in Tokyo as climbing enters the Olympics for the first time in 2020.
Born into the diverse community of Ladbroke Grove in London Molly started climbing at her local Westway sports centre at the age of eight. By the age of 16 she was ranked no. 1 in the world and won the European Youth Cup, and since 2011 she has continued to achieve outstanding results at both junior and, more lately, senior competitions. In 2017 she came third in the Senior Lead World Cup championship in Kranz, Slovenia, and finished 7th in the world overall.
A serious finger injury and surgery at the end of the 2017 season forced Molly to take 8 months out, but she has fought her way back through patience and hard work to make a stunning return, winning the National Championships again in October 2018. Taking the decision to focus solely on her climbing ahead of Tokyo she now splits her time between London, the UK climbing hub in Sheffield and Innsbruck in Austria.
A leading figure in a visually striking sport Molly perfectly embodies female physical strength, agility and grace, as well as diversity in the world of outdoor sports. With 90% of the UK’s black population never having tried mountaineering or climbing Molly is determined to do her part to grow this by taking to the international stage and demonstrating the raw strength, physicality and mental challenge of pitting yourself against the wall.
Molly is an ambassador for the British Mountaineering Council (BMC), making personal appearances up and down the country to promote the BMC and climbing.
