Matthew Phillips (climber)

Matthew Phillips is a British paraclimber. He competes on the Great Britain Paraclimbing Team, where he was the youngest member,[1] and is the current World Champion in the AU2[2] (Upper Arm Amputation) category.[3] He is coached by GB Team's Head Coach Robin O'Leary.[4]

Matthew Phillips
Matt on his Final's climb at IFSC Climbing World Championships 2018 in Innsbruck
Personal information
Nickname(s)Matt
Born (2000-11-14) 14 November 2000
Farnborough, Hampshire, England
OccupationClimbing instructor
Websitewww.matthewphillips.me.uk
Climbing career
Type of climberSport climbing, bouldering
Highest grade
Known for
  • Member of GB Paraclimbing Team 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020
Major ascentsReefer Madness, 6c Clear Creek (Colorado), USA
Achievements and titles
World finalsWorld Champion 2018, 2019 AU2 Category
Medal record
World Championships
2018 InnsbruckParaclimbing
2019 BrianconParaclimbing
World Cup
2018 BrianconParaclimbing
2017 SheffieldParaclimbing
2017 EdinburghParaclimbing
2016 SheffieldParaclimbing
2016 Campitello di FassaParaclimbing
Paraclimbing Masters
2019 ImstParaclimbing
2016 ImstParaclimbing
British Paraclimbing Series
2018 Paraclimbing
2018 Paraclimbing
2018 Paraclimbing
2018 Paraclimbing
2017 Paraclimbing
2017 Paraclimbing
2017 Paraclimbing
2017 Paraclimbing
2016 Paraclimbing
2016 Paraclimbing
2016 Paraclimbing
2016 Paraclimbing
British Paraclimbing Championship
2019 Paraclimbing
British Parabouldering Championship
Blokfest Para Festival
2019 Paraclimbing
Paraclimb Scotland
2019ParaClimbing
2019ParaSpeed
Updated on 10 September 2019.

Biography

Phillips was born missing his right lower arm from the elbow down. He started out as a national swimmer, but switched to climbing when he was around 13.[5] He attended Salesian College in Farnborough.[6] He started climbing seriously in 2014.[7] In 2016 he was featured in the Channel 4's Paralympics trailer 'We're the Superhumans'.[7] in 2018 he won the Young Sports Personality of the Year in the Sport Guildford Awards.[8]

He left school in 2019 and spent time in Boulder, Colorado climbing with his coach Robin O'Leary and a number of US climbers. Whilst out there he was joined by film maker David Petts of Volo Digital to film footage for the film 'One of Kind[9]' which is available on Epic TV YouTube channel. Phillips returned to the United Kingdom where he started to work as a climbing Instructor.

Filmography
  • July 2016 – We're the Superhumans , television advert produced by Channel 4 for 2016 Summer Paralympics[10]
  • May 2018 – At Arms Length, YouTube produced by Teri Limongi[11]
  • Dec 2018 – Matthew Phillips Shows Us His Moves At Blokfest Brighton | Climbing Daily Ep.1315, YouTube produced by Epic TV Climbing Daily[12]
  • May 2020 – One of a Kind, YouTube produced by David Petts[13]

Competitions

Phillips has competed in a number of national and international competitions. In 2016 he won the Paraclimbing Cup in June in Italy,[6] and in September in Sheffield.[14] In 2017 he finished second at the Cup in Edinburgh and first at the Cup in Sheffield.[15] In 2018 he won both the Cup in Briançon[16] and the World Championships in Innsbruck.[17]

In the ParaClimb Scotland 2019 Competition Phillips took gold in what is thought to have been the first Para-Speed Climbing event, on an international approved speed wall, in the United Kingdom with a time of 25.36s. Although his personal best came on the first qualifying route at 23.11s.[18]

In 2019 he successfully defended his world title by winning a gold medal at the World Paraclimbing Championships in Briançon in France.[19]

References
  1. "Guildford teenager wins paraclimbing world championship". Eagle Radio. 29 September 2018. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  2. Hatch, Tim (April 2018). "IFSC Paraclimbing Classifications, Sec 14" (PDF). ifsc-climbing.org. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  3. "Brilliant performance from GB athletes at IFSC World Championships". thebmc.co.uk. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  4. "GB Paraclimber Matthew Phillips wants to be World Champion and The Terminator". Birchall Blackburn Law. 12 September 2016. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  5. "Crazy Strength: Matt Phillips Crushes Rock Climbing with One Arm". BarBend. 30 March 2017. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  6. "Gold for Matthew Phillips at World Paraclimbing Cup". GLL Sport Foundation. 4 July 2016. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  7. Khaleeli, Homa (20 July 2016). "We're the Superhumans: meet the stars of Channel 4's Paralympics trailer". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  8. "An evening of celebration at the Sport Guildford Awards 2018 | Surrey Chambers". www.surrey-chambers.co.uk. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  9. Petts, David. "One of a Kind". Youtube. Epic TV. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  10. Khaleeli, Homa (20 July 2016). "We're the Superhumans: meet the stars of Channel 4's Paralympics trailer". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  11. Teri Limongi (17 December 2018), At Arms Length |, retrieved 14 March 2019
  12. EpicTV Climbing Daily (17 December 2018), Matthew Phillips Shows Us His Moves at Blokfest Brighton | Climbing Daily Ep.1315, retrieved 14 March 2019
  13. David Petts (8 May 2020), One of a Kind |, retrieved 8 May 2020
  14. "Paraclimbing Cup (L) – Sheffield (GBR) 2016". ifsc-climbing.org. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  15. "Paraclimbing Cup (L) – Sheffield (GBR) 2017". ifsc-climbing.org. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  16. "3 gold medals, 1 bronze for GB Paraclimbing Team at Briançon". thebmc.co.uk. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  17. Climbing, Austria. "Matthew Phillips und Thierry Delarue sind Paraclimbing Weltmeister in den Kategorien M-AU2 und M-AL2". innsbruck2018 (in German). Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  18. "2019 Scottish Paraclimbing Festival – Results". Climb Scotland. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
  19. "IFSC Paraclimbing World Championships – Briançon (FRA) 2019". ifsc-climbing.org. Retrieved 2 December 2019.


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