Erin McNeice

Tell us about your successes so far?

1. Back-to-back Lead World Cup Golds in Wujiang China and Bali Indonesia in 2025.  Getting one gold was a dream come true and to repeat it at the next opportunity was amazing.  I also got to share my first gold with Chaehyun Seo from Korea after we tied on countback and time falling off the finals route.
2. Representing Team GB at the 2024 Paris Olympics and making the finals.  This was an event on a scale I have never experienced and one that will live with me for the rest of my life.
3. Winning my first Boulder World Cup Gold at Bern, Switzerland.  A huge life goal ticked off to win both lead and boulder world cups.
4. Winning the overall Lead World Cup title in 2025 – I had not appreciated how hard it would be to sustain this level of performance throughout the year.

What are you working on? What are your goals for the future?

Focus for 2026 - The World Cup series, with an eye on 2027 for Olympic qualification.

Why do you climb? What do you love about climbing?

To put it simply, climbing makes me happy. I look forward to going climbing. I also really enjoy competing. Feeling the pressure of performing and executing, hearing the crowd get behind you and the consequence of mistakes is all part of the experience, and I love the it.

You’re competing against the best in the world so if you fail to get up a problem, chances are someone else will get up it. It can be devastating but it can also be absolutely electric. When I’m competing and I’m in the right mindset, enjoying it and climbing well, it’s the most exciting thing I’ve ever done and the most fun I’ve ever had.

Which SCARPA shoe is your favourite?

Has to be the Drago LV – These are pretty much my go to shoe for lead or boulder.  I do really like the Instinct VSR LV for slabs though!

Tell us about your best day climbing?

My best day climbing is pretty recent as it would have to be the finals of the Olympic Qualifier series in Budapest. Making finals basically secured me an Olympic ticket. I was so psyched I barely slept at all that night.

Finals was pretty early in the morning and I was ready to just enjoy it. Boulder went alright and I was so excited to get on the lead route. I ended up getting the bronze. To be able to celebrate, not just an Olympic ticket but also a podium, with my family and my friends felt absolutely amazing.

What do you do away from your sport?

I love reading and I’ll read pretty much anything. But I love classics in particular. I also am really interested in space and astronomy. I think it’s fascinating and I enjoy learning about it.

Other than the nerdy stuff, I spend quite a lot of time with my family. My brother is obsessed with golf with friends, so I spend a chunk of time trying to beat him at that if I’m on a rest week or deloading..

Where is your #NoPlacetooFar?

Tokyo, Japan. I really enjoyed my time training and competing there in 2023. I really want to get out there in the 2024 training season. The blocs there are super hard and a really interesting style. And everyone is super strong!