Olympic climbing dream could come true for Canmore twins

A pair of 18-year-old twins who just climbed their way tofirst and second place at a national competitionare hoping to see their sport ascend to the SummerOlympics.

Canmore sisters Sara andBeccaFrangos, whohave spent roughlyhalf their livesclimbing andboulderinginCanmore,topped the podium at the2016 Youth andOpen Difficulty Nationalsat the end of May.

"It's cool to have seen the sport evolve fromsomething prettysmall to something that could be a huge international deal," saidBeccain an interview withCBC'sThe Homestretch.

The International Olympic Committee's executive boardunanimously recommended the addition of sport climbingrecently,along withskateboarding, surfing, karate and baseball/softball to the2020 Tokyo Summer Games.

The committee makes its final decision in August.

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Mental and physical ordeal

The twins were first introduced to the sport at a local summer camp, andthetown'sclimbing coach later invited them to join hiscompetitive team.

"We haven't really looked back since," Sara said.

The sport is as mentally demanding as it is physical, agreed the twins, with plenty of problem-solving involved.

In the so-called "difficulty" event for example,competitors are given six minutes to visually observe a wall with 55 to 60 holds sotheycan map their route.

Theythenclimb as high as possible without being allowed to watch the attempts offellow climbers.

While both twins have been highly active in all types of sports, they've both felt an individual pull toward sport climbing.

"I've done many sports over the years, and I find that the community in climbing especially is really rich," Becca said.

That's not to say there isn't a bit of a sibling rivalry brewing in Canmore.

"Of course there's some friendly competition, but we really like to see each other succeed," Becca laughed.

A goal to work toward

While sport climbing has its roots in the mountains, moderncompetitions take place indoors on courses built of fibre glass and plastic.

"I think that's really opened up the climbing community and the opportunity for more countries to become involved in climbing. It has morphed into something that's accessible to anyone, really," Sarasaid.

If sport climbing is approved for the 2020 TokyoGames,the Federation of International Sport Climbing plans to send 60 of the world's best climbers to Japanbased on international ranking.

"Itwould be quite difficult to make it, but it's definitely a goal I can work towards over the next four years," Becca said.

"Absolutely," agreed Sara.

With files from The Homestretch