Shauna Coxsey named as Britain's first ever Olympic climber

Shauna Coxsey has created history by becoming the first climber selected to represent Britain at the Olympic Games, the British Olympic Association has announced.

Coxsey, a two-time overall World Cup winner in her favoured bouldering discipline, will be part of climbing's Olympic debut at Tokyo Olympic Games.

The 27-year-old from Runcorn is the country's most successful ever athlete in the sport, with Coxsey adding two bronze medals in the bouldering and combined events at the 2019 Climbing World Championships to her World Cup triumphs.

The format of sport climbing at Tokyo 2020 combines speed, bouldering, and lead. Speed climbing will see two athletes race against each other up a 15m wall, bouldering comprises of tackling fixed routes on a 4.5m wall, and lead will challenge climbers to get as high as possible on up to a 15m wall within a specified time.

"I am really excited to be part of Team Great Britain (GB) and to have the privilege of joining so many incredible athletes to represent our country and sport climbing on the world's biggest sporting stage," said Coxsey.

Coxsey is the 20th athlete officially selected to represent Britain for Tokyo 2020 following previous announcements of 14 sailors and five canoeists.

Tokyo 2020 is set to run from July 24 to August 9 with sport climbing featuring between August 4 and 7.