We are together on top!

Paris 2024. Four years after its Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020, sport climbing is back with a new format. This year saw 4 gold medals at stake: speed climbing and combined bouldering and lead, men's and women's, making a total of 12 medals. 12 athletes aspiring to climb to the top of the world.

With these Olympics, almost 40 years have passed since SportRoccia in Bardonecchia (back in 1985), the event that marked the beginning of sport climbing competitions. It was the first international meeting in Europe for this discipline, which on the Parete dei Militi, saw the redefinition of new standards, canons and rules for athletes and events to come. German Stefan Glowacz won the most coveted medal: taking the top spot on the podium, with the (now) legendary Mariacher on his feet. A victory that not only consolidated Glowacz's position as the best athlete, but marked a turning point in the use of advanced materials and technologies. An event that established La Sportiva as a leading player in the development of revolutionary climbing gear. 

The Mega, the climbing shoes by La Sportiva, developed in 1986

A lot has changed in four decades, the discipline and competitions have evolved and been redefined, but the history of La Sportiva has continued to become increasingly intertwined with that of climbing, in a parallel and reciprocal growth that has seen an extraordinary upward trajectory from Bardonecchia. On stage at the Le Bourget Sport Climbing Venue in Saint-Denis, in August 2024, we witnessed a remarkable demonstration of this: athletes challenging themselves to ever higher standards and an audience as enthusiastic as ever. Right at the front, first holding its breath, then going wild with delight, was La Sportiva: there to cheer and celebrate the podium wins for 7 athletes on the team, who wore shoes designed and produced at the Val di Fiemme headquarters.

We are talking about Leonardo Veddriq (Speed gold), Lijuan Deng (Speed silver), Sorato Anraku (Boulder & Lead silver), Brooke Raboutou (Boulder & Lead silver), Peng Wu (Speed silver), Jacob Schubert (Boulder & Lead bronze) and Aleksandra Kalucka (Speed bronze). On their feet were the Solution Comp, Solution, Cobra and Cobra 4.99.

How exciting, how satisfying to be right there, alongside and in support of seven of the world's strongest athletes.  “How can we celebrate them in a special way?”, his question immediately sprang to mind here at La Sportiva. The answer materialised into the idea of making the shoe model used by everyone in Paris with the colours of their national flag and the words ‘thank you’ written on it. The ranking of their respective event appears on the sole, the box is made of wood from Val di Fiemme, with a dedication by Lorenzo Delladio. Team members who live in Europe came to collect their gift in person, while those further away had it delivered by local retailers. 

This was a very special feeling for us at La Sportiva, which came from the enormous pleasure of seeing our team triumph on the most important sporting stage in the world. The fundamental driving force behind our day-to-day work has always been our close, special and collaborative relationship with our athletes. Thanks to the constant two-way exchange of feedback we guarantee that our products have the best technical features and the best performance for them, in a positive cycle that follows and charts the progress of a discipline.

Looking back to 1985 in Bardonecchia, Lorenzo Delladio tells us this, reminding us that the passion for the work we do and the sport we support has never changed: "[At SportRoccia] we have to understand what athletes need in order to be able to climb at their best, on increasingly difficult routes, and we have to work with the greatest champions around [...]. We need to understand how to design the shoes of the future, my job is to do what my father and grandfather always did before me: listen to the most experienced, the best and transform their advice and ideas into new products, with new solutions. After all, that's how it's always worked at La Sportiva."

After forty years of history in sport climbing competitions and technical sports progress, La Sportiva is here to celebrate with its athletes and say together:“we are together on top!”.