Paris 2024 Olympics: Oceania Mackenzie, Campbell Harrison make Australian sport climbing team
Oceania Mackenzie and Campbell Harrison are the two athletes selected in the Australian sport climbing team at the Paris 2024 Olympics, announced by the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC).
Mackenzie will take part in her second Summer Games after competing at Tokyo 2020 where sport climbing made its Olympic debut. On that occasion, she failed to advance to the finals of the event and finished 19th overall.
Meanwhile, Harrison will be competing in his first-ever Olympic Games in Paris.
The pair will contest the combined lead/boulder event, attempting to reach as many handhold checkpoints in six minutes and solve climbing puzzles on a four-metre wall in bouldering.
Both Mackenzie and Harrison secured Paris 2024 Olympics quotas by winning the 2023 Oceania Championships.
Oceania Mackenzie has been pushing the envelope for Australian climbers for some time. She achieved Australia's best-ever result at a World Championships with seventh in 2023 and also became the first Australian climber to make a World Cup final.
"I'm beyond excited to be heading to Paris for my second Games," said Mackenzie.
"One of my favourite things about climbing is the supportive and social community, so I hope people seeing climbing in the Games will help spark their interest in the sport.
“I love the feeling of working something that feels so physically and mentally hard. Climbing is also so diverse in its movements which I love, learning new moves every session - it's very addictive," she added.
Campbell Harrison, meanwhile, says that making it to the Australian Olympic Team was the result of nearly a decade of hard work.
"Qualifying for the Olympic Games is a dream that I've been fighting for close to eight years now, finally realising it is beyond words! I'm not sure that it's fully sunk in yet that I'll actually be an Olympian in August this year, but I'm doing everything I can to be as ready as possible for the Games,” said the 26-year-old.
He was Australia’s top-ranked climber and on track for selection for Tokyo 2020 but lockdown border closures due to the pandemic forced him to cut short his qualifying competition.
Harrison has consistently found a spot among the top 40 in the world in lead climbing and bouldering and has reached the semi-finals in multiple World Cup events.
The sport climbing events will be held between August 5 and 10 at the Le Bourget Venue.
While sport climbing at Tokyo 2020 consisted of one combined lead/boulder/speed competition per gender, at Paris 2024 there is a speed event and a combined lead/boulder.