Meet the Official Routesetters for the Paris Olympics
As the 2024 Paris Olympic Games draw near, the excitement surrounding the sport climbing competition grows. Leading up to the games, we look into one of the most critical yet often overlooked aspects of the event: routesetters. These individuals are responsible for crafting the climbing routes that will challenge the world’s best climbers. This year, the Paris Olympics features a diverse and highly skilled team of routesetters, each bringing their unique expertise and vision to the competition.
Offical Routesetters for Boulder and Lead
Who are the official route setters for boulder and lead at the Paris Olympic Games? The list of delegates for 2024 Paris Olympic Games was approved by the IFSC Executive Board on February 15, 2023 (Article). All selected delegates were evaluated based on criterias pertaining to excellence and competencies; development, youth, and gender; and universality.
The IFSC Executive Board approved USA’s Garrett Gregor and Austria’s Martin Hammerer to be the head routesetters for routesetting teams of boulder and lead.
Head Routesetter [Boulder Team]
Garrett Gregor
Gregor is an IFSC Chief Routesetter who has been leading the route setting for the Continental Qualification
events leading up to Paris 2024. He is no stranger to the Olympic Games after being a part of the Tokyo 2020 route setting team.
His extensive work in national and international competitions have equipped him with a deep understanding of the sport and a wealth of experience he will surely bring to the Olympic Games.
Routesetting Team – Boulder
Supporting this Gregor’s boulder team are several assistant routesetters, each contributing their unique skills and perspectives. Among them are:
Tsukasa Mizuguchi
Tsukasa Mizuguchi is a routesetter from Japan. She has done route setting for national and international competitions across Japan. Her experience and knowledge stems from starting to set since she was in high school and currently, continues setting at Rhino & Bird in Tokyo.
Olga Niemiec
Niemiec is a mom of two, avid climber, and certified routesetter from Poland. Coming from a family of climbers, she has dedicated her life to the world of climbing. During her competitive climbing career she took an interest in route setting and eventually became a certified IFSC route setter in 2022.
Tomasz Oleksy
Tomasz Oleksy is a seasoned routesetter and former competitive sport climber from Poland. Oleksy is known for his ability to blend creativity with technical rigor to create routes that push climbers to their limits. His deep understanding of the sport and many years as a professional routesetter are sure to contribute to a memorable climbing event.
Rémi Samyn
Rémi Samyn is a well-known climber, fitness trainer, climbing coach, IFSC chief routesetter, and Ninja Warrior finalist. He is most recognized for being the former coach of the French national climbing team.
Head Routesetter [Lead Team]
Martin Hammerer
Martin Hammerer is an IFSC chief routesetter from Austria. He has many years of experience route setting for regional, national, and international competitions. His previous setting experience includes leading the European Games Krakow-Malopolska in 2023.
Routesetting Team – Lead
Supporting Hammerer’s lead team are several assistant routesetters, each contributing their unique skills and perspectives. Among them are:
Akito Matsushima
Akito Matsushima is a former Japanese national team player with achievements such as 2nd place in the Bouldering World Cup. He became the sixth person in Japan to become a IFSC certified routesetter in 2019. As a routesetter he has been a chief routesetter at multiple international competitions and was an assistant routesetter for the lead team at the 2020 Tokyo Games.
Adam Pustelnik
Pustelnik is a distinguished Polish routesetter who has crafted routes for numerous prestigious competitions worldwide. For the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, Pustelnik was the chief route setter for the lead team. Although he is not the head setter for the Paris Games, he is sure to use his creativity and experience to the support this Olympic Games lead team.
Brad Weaver
Weaver is a Climbing Hold Representative & Routesetting Specialist for Thread Climbing. He has a strong background in climbing as a competitive climber and a decades worth of experience in route setting for national competitions. As a developer of commercial routesetter education programs, he brings a lot of insight into the rules and regulations for route setting.
Jan Zbranek
Jan Zbranek is an IFSC chief routesetter. He began his route setting career in 2001 as Chief Route Setter for Czech state level competitions and presided over the Czech Youth National Championships in 2004 and 2005. Like some of his fellow team members he was a route setter on the lead team for the 2020 Tokyo Games.
