Before his final climb, Sagi Ben Abraham had no idea where he stood. No scores. No feedback. Just one more try.

He made his move.

Then he heard the crowd.

“After I made the difficult move, I heard them,” Ben Abraham said. “I felt adrenaline, then I focused back on the climb.”

By the end of the day, the 17-year-old Whitfield junior from St. Louis—whose family moved from Israel in 2012 and who attended the Jewish Community Center Early Childhood Center and Saul Mirowitz Jewish Community School—was the only Missouri competitor in the under-19 division to qualify for the USA Climbing National Championship in Kansas City, in February.

The crowd’s reaction was the first sign something had changed.

“No,” Ben Abraham said, when asked if he thought he had done enough to qualify.

Understanding The Sport

Competitive climbing is a relatively new Olympic sport, debuting at the 2020 Summer Olympics, and its youth pipeline spans multiple age groups rather than traditional high school teams. Ben Abraham competes in that national system, which includes athletes from under-11 through under-19.

In bouldering competition, climbers tackle short, powerful routes on indoor walls without ropes, trying to reach the highest point in just a few attempts. Each move matters—one slip can end a run. At this level, a single hold can separate those who qualify from those who don’t.

While St. Louis has a growing youth climbing community—with more than 100 young climbers and competitive teams like Upper Limits and Climb So Ill—reaching nationals at this level remains rare.

Ben Abraham started climbing during the pandemic and now trains locally at Upper Limits while also working remotely with coach Charlie Schreiber of Paradigm Climbing, who has guided his development for about three years.

Climbing through pain

For much of the past year, even getting to that moment in Kansas City felt unlikely. A wrist injury disrupted his season, limiting both training and competition. The pain lingered for months, with no clear diagnosis—even after visits to multiple specialists. For stretches, he didn’t know if he’d be able to climb at this level again.

“The injury caused pain and prevented me from training and competing for many months,” he said. “I saw multiple orthopedists who said they couldn’t find a mechanical problem with my wrist and that the human body is just not built for competitive climbing.”

He took extended breaks. The pain kept coming back.

Seven months went by like that—training, stopping, trying again.

After that stretch of uncertainty, his Coach Schreiber connected him with a physical therapist who specializes in climbing. Together, they built a recovery and training plan that finally started to hold.

“Hopefully it will last,” Ben Abraham said.

Back on the wall

It was enough to get him back on the wall—and back into contention.

“Making it to Nationals seemed impossible when I started working with Charlie,” Ben Abraham said. “He really took my climbing to the next level.”

Schreiber saw it, too.

“What stood out about Sagi’s performance was how much he developed while he couldn’t go hard on his wrist—his positioning, coordination and movement, especially trusting poor footholds,” said Schreiber. “He put his time into those skills while he healed.”

“His upper body strength is also exceptional. He’s one of the strongest climbers in his category and was able to control the holds. But just as important was his discipline—not training the things he wanted to while recovering. That’s what allowed him to qualify.”

With his performance in Kansas City he’ll next head to Salt Lake City this summer to compete against roughly 60 of the top climbers in the country, all chasing a national title—and a chance to represent the United States internationally.

The margin will be thin.

But Ben Abraham has already been there—on the wall, unsure it was enough.

Until the crowd told him it was.

We’ll keep you posted.

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