Anak Verhoeven
Pro Team · Sport climbing

Anak Verhoeven

Belgium@anak.verhoeven
Shop what Anak usesThe recordThe whole team
19Lead World Cup medals
2017World Games and European champion
9bHardest route, La Planta de Shiva, 2024
1stWoman to open a 9a+, Sweet Neuf, 2017
The story

She opens the routes herself.

Anak Verhoeven grew up in Belgium with her mother as coach and her father as trainer, and started climbing at four. By 2015 she was world youth champion. In 2016 she was ranked first in the world in lead, and in 2017 she won both the World Games and the European Championships.

A serious elbow injury in late 2017 took until 2019 to clear, and in June 2021 she left competition to climb outside. The routes she has opened since mark a different kind of record. Sweet Neuf, in France in 2017, made her the first woman to establish a new 9a+. Ciudad de Dios pa la Enmienda followed that December. In 2024 she repeated La Planta de Shiva, a 9b in Spain, as the fourth woman to climb the grade.

Anak is a member of the Rhino Pro Team.

Official site
In the bag

What Anak actually uses.

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Rhino Starter Kit Bundle

The essentials with a handmade pouch. The easy first order.

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Pro Pack

The full system: prepare, perform, recover.

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The record

Anak Verhoeven, year by year

  1. 2012
    World Cup debut

    Starts the senior lead World Cup at sixteen.

  2. 2014
    Junior European champion

    Wins the junior title at the European Championships in Edinburgh.

  3. 2015
    World youth champion

    Takes the junior world title in Italy, finishes fourth in the lead World Cup, and climbs her first 9a, Era Vella, at Margalef.

  4. 2016
    Silver and number one

    Silver at the world championships in Paris, topping the final route and losing on countback to Janja Garnbret. Second in the World Cup and first in the world ranking.

  5. 2017
    World Games and Europe

    Wins the World Games and the European Championships in lead. In September she makes the first free ascent of Sang Neuf, a 9a, then Sweet Neuf, the first 9a+ opened by a woman.

  6. Dec 2017
    Ciudad de Dios pa la Enmienda

    First free ascent of the 9a/9a+ at Santa Linya, Spain.

  7. Nov 2019
    Joe Mama

    First female ascent of the 9a+ at Oliana.

  8. Jun 2020
    Kraftio

    Opens Kraftio in Belgium, 8c+/9a and the country’s hardest route, named for the late Belgian climber Chloé Graftiaux.

  9. Jun 2021
    Leaves competition

    Announces she is leaving the World Cup to focus on outdoor projects.

  10. Oct 2022
    No Pain No Gain

    First female ascent of the 9a+ at Rodellar, Spain.

  11. May 2024
    La Planta de Shiva

    Climbs the 9b at Villanueva del Rosario, the fourth woman to climb the grade.

Shop the line

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Night before. Hands sweat less for about eight hours on dry skin.

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Tip Juice

Fingertip antiperspirant for very sweaty tips. Brushed on the pads, once a week.

$25.00
Hydrate

Aloe-based spray for glassy, dry skin. Spray on before you climb and let it dry tacky.

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Massage Cream

For forearms and sore joints after a session.

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