Piper Kelly

Piper Kelly (born 1999) is an American competition climber who specializes in competition speed climbing. She won a gold medal in her event at the 2023 Pan American Games and is part of the 2024 US Olympic Team.

Early life and education
Kelly was born on October 3, 1999, in Indianapolis, began climbing at age seven, and began competing in climbing at age 12. After graduating from Irvington Prep Academy in Indianapolis, she majored in exercise science as a student at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. She credits her small class sizes at Xavier for allowing her to focus on the biomechanics of climbing in her studies. She graduated in 2023, with minors in psychology and Spanish.

Competition results
She has three international podiums, all first place. At the 2017 Pan American Youth Climbing Championships in Montreal, Canada, she placed first in the Juniors category. At the 2018 International Federation of Sport Climbing Pan American Championship in Guayaquil, Ecuador, she won the speed championship at the senior level. After repeated shoulder dislocations, she took a break from competing for nearly two years beginning in 2020 for shoulder surgery. At the 2023 Pan American Games, she was the gold medalist in the women's speed climbing event, after the top seed, her teammate Emma Hunt, suffered a false start in the final race. Kelly had to re-run the race alone after the false start, achieving her personal best official time, 7.52 seconds. She has climbed as fast as 6.57 seconds unofficially. , her ranking from IFSC World Cup events places her 9th in the world among women speed climbers.

2024 Olympics
In 2019, when she won the youth nationals, she already stated "I'm not ruling it out" regarding competing in the 2024 Summer Olympics. Her win at the 2023 Pan Am Games gave her a place on the US Olympic team, part of the sport climbing event there, as one of only 14 competitors in women's speed. As Hunt already had a ticket from winning the World Championships earlier in the year, Kelly secured her position in the Olympics by reaching the final race against Hunt, even before she won.