Verhoeven was born in Belgium and started to climb when she was 4 years old,[2] and both her parents were already climbers.[4][5]
Climbing career
Competition climbing
Verhoeven at the Climbing World Championships 2018 Lead Final
In 2012, at age 16, she started participating in the Lead Climbing World Cup, and by 2014, had become the Junior European Champion at the Championships in Edinburgh.[1] In 2015, she won the World Youth Championship in Italy, where she competed for the last time as a junior.[1] In the same year, she also participated in the Lead Climbing World Cup, where she ranked fourth.[1]
In 2016, she competed at the World Championships in Paris. During the finals, she managed to top the route but fellow competitor Janja Garnbret also topped and won gold due to countback.[1] In the same year, she also ranked second in the Lead Climbing World Cup.[1] Verhoeven ended the 2016 competition season as number 1 on the IFSC World Ranking List.[6] In 2017, she won both the World Games and IFSC Climbing European Championships.[3]
In late 2017, Verhoeven was forced to take time off from competition climbing with a serious elbow injury from which she did not fully recover until 2019.[7][2] In June 2021, Verhoeven announced that she was retiring from competition climbing to focus on her outdoor rock climbing projects.[1]
Rock climbing
In September 2017, she did the first free ascent (FFA) of the 9a (5.14d) route Sang neuf, at Pierrot Beach in France, becoming the first-ever woman in history to do an FFA at that grade.[8][1] She then did the FFA of Sweet Neuf (links Sang Neuf with the 25-metere second pitch of Home Sweet Home), and proposed a 9a+ (5.15a) rating, which in June 2019 was confirmed by Cédric Lachat [fr] on repeating Sweet Neuf.[9] Her ascent of Sweef Neuf made her the second-ever woman in history to climb a 9a+ route (Margo Hayes was first), and the first-ever woman in history to do the FA of a 9a+ route.[4][10][11]
In December 2017, Verhoven did the FFA of the 9a/9a+ route Ciudad de Dios pa la Enmienda in Spain,[12] making her the first-ever female to do an FFA of a 9a, a 9a/+ or a 9a+ route (Angela Eiter did the first-ever female FFA of a 9b route).[1] In November 2019, she climbed her second 9a+, Joe Mama, in Spain.[13][1] In June 2020, Verhoeven made the FFA of Kraftio, a route that was bolted 15 years earlier but had repelled all attempts to scale it;[14] Verhoeven graded it 8c+/9a making it Belgium's hardest-ever sport climbing route, which she named in memory of the former Belgian climber Chloé Graftiaux.[15]
In May 2024, Verhoeven became fourth-ever female to redpoint a 9b (5.15b) graded route with her ascent of La Planta de Shiva at Villanueva del Rosario in Spain.[16]
Personal life
Christian faith is an important part of Verhoeven's life,[17] which she said was not just inherited or copied from her parents, but a personal faith.[5][18]
Sweet Neuf – Pierrot Beach, France – 11 September 2017 – First free ascent (FFA); second-ever woman in history to climb at 9a (5.14d) and first-ever woman in history to create a new 9a+ (5.15a) graded sport climbing route.[4][1]
Ciudad de Dios pa la Enmienda – Santa Linya, Spain – 10 December 2017. First free ascent (FFA); first-ever woman in history to create (i.e. an FFA) a new 9a/9a+ graded sport climbing route.[1]
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