Ethan Flynn-Pitcher
Ethan started climbing recreationally in grade 4 when he got in trouble at school for climbing on the roof but rather than punishing him, his teacher Adam Markert who was a retired world Cup climber for the United States had him join his climbing team. Ethan competed all throughout the US as his family had moved from Newfoundland to Colorado when he was very young.
Ethan made Nationals for every discipline (even Speed) though he didn't really care for it as it was still a randomized route off in the corner that no one cared about so he only did it the one time. Ethan continued climbing throughout his childhood making lots of friends in the climbing world and got to watch Sean McColl at the world Cup in Vail every year. He even traveled back to Canada occasionally to do Canadian competitions. Though It wasn't until he was 18 that Ethan decided to try out a speed comp and start taking the sport as a serious career and not just a hobby.
That year Ethan decided to actually listen to his coaches and trained hard. He made the podium at speed nationals in not only youth but the Open category as well and qualified for the youth world championships. It wasn't long after that, that he started training really hard for speed, there wasn't a full speed wall anywhere close to where he lived so Ethan had to drive 3 hours down to Denver to actually train. He got really good at it and even started unofficially breaking the Canadian record in training.
Then the pandemic happened and Ethan missed out on his last year of youth and lost a lot of the momentum. Once things started to clear up, Ethan moved out of his parent's house to another town In Colorado that had a full 15 meter speed wall that he could train on consistently. That's when things really took off! In just a few months, he became the first Canadian to ever go sub 6 and qualified for the world Cup circuit. This is when Libor Hroza the coach for the national team convinced him to move to Victoria to work at his gym and train with him and his competitive team. It was the best decision he ever made! Once Ethan started training in Victoria his career took off and before long he was winning nationals, making world cups finals and breaking the Canadian record more times than he can count. He most recently competed at the PanAm Games in Santiago just narrowly missing the medal by a thousandth of a second just barely missing the Olympic games in Paris. Ethan has comfortably adapted to the island life and is now aiming to be the first sub 5 Canadian and for a spot at the next Olympic Games.