Is Hobbs Kessler the world's best rock climber with a sub 4 minute mile?

I'm the world's best 18 year old miler with an interest in Sham 69.

Very likely. 5.14 is really good.

buzzcolorado wrote:

Very likely. 5.14 is really good.

The question is, is he a better climber or runner. I think he is a better runner. 5.14c is like up there with the top few females in the world. It's really good, and great for his age, but still just barely professional level compared to adult males. On the other hand, a 3:57 indoor mile makes him competitive nationally with adult professionals. I mean he won't make the Olympics or anything, but he should make the finals of the Olympic trials.

If he really makes a name for himself, there can be the Hobbs Climb and Run event. The rock climbing equivalent of the Arnold Pump and Run

The gap between the top females and males in rock climbing is minuscule compared to running. Lynn Hill was the only person to free The Nose on El Cap for many years and virtually every top climber, make or female had a crack at it at some stage. Katie Brown was probably in the top 3 or 4 climbers in the world at her peak as well. So to say he's 'only' at the level of the top female climbers in the world is a bit misleading.

14c is insanely hard, but then again so is 3:57 indoors in high school. But look at it this way, I can run 3:57 pace for maybe 600m but put me on a sustained 14c and I literally wouldn't be able to get off the ground, and I've climbed several 12c's (which in turn a 5.10 climber couldn't get off the ground on). There would be way more people who have gone 3:57 than have climbed 14c or above (but climbers probably draw from a smaller pool)

In short, I don't know what's more impressive but 14c is definitely world class.

I’m a runner/climber in Boulder. I personally know probably maybe a dozen people that have done one or the other, but nobody that’s done both (or even particularly close). Not saying nobody else has ever done it, but it would be incredibly rare. They both require a level of natural talent the average person does not possess (and then training on top of that).

MatthewXCountry wrote:

buzzcolorado wrote:

Very likely. 5.14 is really good.

The question is, is he a better climber or runner. I think he is a better runner. 5.14c is like up there with the top few females in the world. It's really good, and great for his age, but still just barely professional level compared to adult males. On the other hand, a 3:57 indoor mile makes him competitive nationally with adult professionals. I mean he won't make the Olympics or anything, but he should make the finals of the Olympic trials.

3:57 mile is definitely more elite than a 5.14c. Women climb 5.15b these days. Plus Southern Smoke is a soft 14c. Ondra put it as a 14d with direct start which is a V13/14. The dude who was projecting it was able to do the 14c variation then 30 pullups from the finishing jug, but couldn't send when starting with the boulder problem.

MatthewXCountry wrote:

buzzcolorado wrote:

Very likely. 5.14 is really good.

The question is, is he a better climber or runner. I think he is a better runner. 5.14c is like up there with the top few females in the world. It's really good, and great for his age, but still just barely professional level compared to adult males. On the other hand, a 3:57 indoor mile makes him competitive nationally with adult professionals. I mean he won't make the Olympics or anything, but he should make the finals of the Olympic trials.

a 3:57 mile isn't going to get him to the trials let alone the finals. He would be like the 5th or 6th fastest miler at Oregon:)

At what age do rock climbers peak? My impression from very loosely following it is that there is a new generation of kids that started at very young ages and who doing very well in their late teens/early 20s. The kids just have a lot of vertical miles in their body when they are hitting their physical peak:)

I'm not so sure this is correct, purely on stated information. Not counting the fact that SS is a tad soft (this coming from a 5.9/5.10 Valley punter), he's arguably knocking on the door of 5.15, which would put him in a group of what, 50 people in the world? I'm pretty sure there's 250 people in the world who could run 3:57 without too much trouble. Heck, I even did it at one point, but I'll never sniff 5.12 on gear, let alone in the '14s. Now, *knowing* that he's a 3:57 *who could run 3:54-55 with only a little more training,* well then that is another story and, IMO, puts his running accomplishments about equal with his climbing accomplishments. That said, I don't see him sending 14d/15anything anytime soon, but I certainly *do* see him running far quicker than 3:57, so I think the sidebar has been answered. Back to the OP's question, pretty sure he's the ONLY high level climber who has broken 4, that I'm aware of, and I know a few of us who have taken up climbing *after* our running careers - that said, Kessler is likely the first to come *from* a climbing background, which is unique in the running world, as most of us get into climbing in our 30's/40's, well after our competitive running years. Kid has a heck of a future and I'm stoked to see what he can do with Smitty in Flag

buzzcolorado wrote:

3:57 mile is definitely more elite than a 5.14c. Women climb 5.15b these days. Plus Southern Smoke is a soft 14c.

The real question is whether climbing is partially responsible for his superb running. The ultimate cross training? Maybe the strength gained from climbing does correlate to running?

might have some of the best core strength for any runner, ever?

fhdhfghdfhg wrote:

The real question is whether climbing is partially responsible for his superb running. The ultimate cross training? Maybe the strength gained from climbing does correlate to running?

It is always easy to pick whatever weird thing a specific athlete does and give it a lot of credit for success. I don't know if rock climbing is great cross training for running but I am pretty confidant being active for a couple of hours doing at least a low level aerobic activity is a lot better than sitting on the couch.

Sham 69 wrote:

I'm the world's best 18 year old miler with an interest in Sham 69.

Sometimes I see your posts and I’m genuinely left wondering if you have some sort of mental deficit. Dead@ss, are you ret@rded?

You can't make this comparison based on the differential between women and men in each sport. To say that "women can climb 5.14, therefore it isn't that impressive" is inaccurate. As others have noted, the difference between men and women in climbing is insignificant compared to the difference in running.

I doubt very many 5.14 climbers could have been capable of running sub-4, let alone taken the time to do it. On the flip side, I bet even fewer sub-4 milers have been capable of climbing 5.14, let alone put in the training to do so.

Article from a climbing perspective. Really hard to say if he has more upside on the climbing or running side but it looks like he will put running first for a bit.

https://www.climbing.com/people/hobbs-kessler-climbs-5-14-and-runs-a-sub-4-minute-mile-and-hes-just-17/

Hardly worth mentioning or comparing. A Cheetah can't even climb a tree.

How many people in the world can climb 5.14c? 500?

Harambe wrote:

How many people in the world can climb 5.14c? 500?

Maybe, but likely maybe ~200 capable of doing that at any given point in time.

Although "running" and athletics is a much bigger pool of participants, I'd say about 1000 guys are capable of sub-4 world wide at any current moment.

2019 IAAF Perf List had 787 men run 3:42.2 or faster outdoors -

Bipedal Chimp wrote:

Hardly worth mentioning or comparing. A Cheetah can't even climb a tree.