adidas Outdoor Partners with 11-Year-Old Climber Ashima Shiraishi

adidas Outdoor today announced three-time American Bouldering Series Youth National Champion Ashima Shiraishi, age 11, is the newest member of its team of sponsored athletes. At four feet, five inches tall and 63 pounds, the sixth grader’s achievements have already placed her among the top in the sport worldwide.

Shiraishi has been climbing since age six and solidified her standing as the future of American rock climbing during a trip to Red River Gorge last October. In one week, Shiraishi flashed a 5.14a with Omaha Beach, making her the youngest person in the world to climb a 5.14a from base to anchors without falling on her first try. She also completed another 5.14a at God’s Own Stone on her second try, as well as two 5.14c routes on successive days, becoming the youngest person, male or female, to climb a 5.14c.

“Ashima represents the future of this sport,” said Greg Thomsen, adidas Outdoor’s managing director for North America. “Her passion and determination to be the best make her an excellent ambassador for our brand and for the sport of climbing. We look forward to watching her career soar.”

Shiraishi was born in New York to Japanese immigrants, who had settled in Chelsea, Mass., in 1978. She now resides in New York, trains indoors at Brooklyn Boulders, and competes around the country. Shiraishi joins a global roster of internationally acclaimed athletes on the adidas Outdoor team, including Pan-American Champion and U.S. National Champion Sasha DiGiulian.


About adidas Outdoor:

Adidas Outdoor is the athletic brand in the outdoors. The company’s founder, Adi Dassler, designed equipment solutions for athletes that improved their performance. The long history of adidas Outdoor began in the 1070’s with the creating of the first light trekking shoes. Climbing legend Reinhold Messner helped adidas design super light and fast approach hiking shoes for his first Everest ascent without supplemental oxygen in 1978.