Posted by: Shauna Farnell
The teen climber is literally soaring up the ranks
Growing up in Atlanta, GA, Emiko Takeuchi explored several activities as a child. She tried soccer and ballet. She wasn’t bad, but found them boring. Then she tried climbing at a friend’s climbing gym birthday party. She was hooked.
“I was like 5. I don’t remember it that much, but I know I had a lot of fun,” she recalls. “My aunt told my mom there’s a climbing team. I joined the team and really liked it. There was a lot of variety. You could always try something new. I slowly got better. My coaches encouraged me to start competing. I started at the open level when I was 9 or 10.”
Now at age 17, Takeuchi is a World Cup-level climber who recently landed her inaugural North American Cup victory. She can’t wait to return to the climbing walls in Vail – plus get muddy and ogle at all the cute dogs– at the 2026 GoPro Mountain Games this June.
Returning to the Mountain Games
“I went for the first time last year,” she says. “A lot of my friends had gone before and always talked about how fun it is. The competition climbing was really good. It was so much fun. The views are amazing. I love dogs and there are dogs everywhere. Me and my friends want to do the [Nature Valley Mountain Mud Run] this year. You can see it behind the speed wall. When we were warming up, we saw people sliding through the mud. It looked so fun.”
Takeuchi has competed in the Youth World Championships and has two World Cup competitions under her belt. She excels at all disciplines but has made her most prominent statement in speed. At the season opening North American Cup speed event this April in Bridgeport, Penn., Takeuchi shot up the wall like Spiderwoman and walked away with the gold medal.
She made quarter finals last year at the Mountain Games’ first-ever North American Cup speed climbing competition, and she will compete once again this June in the YETI North American Cup Series Vail – Speed as well as in the North American Cup Series Vail Boulder competition, presented by CELSIUS.
“The bouldering was a unique setting,” she says. “I never competed in something like that before… It was scary because there were so many people. When I looked in front of the wall, you barely see the grass because there’s so many people standing around watching.”
Speed vs. bouldering
The competition element of speed is largely what motivates the teenage climber.
“Competitions are intense and fun,” she says. “It’s fun to win a race because you are just going up against another person in the final round. It gives you a rush of adrenaline. It’s nerve-racking, though. One slip can ruin your time completely. That’s something I’ve learned to deal with and focus on consistency.”
While every North American Cup speed wall follows the same standardized specs, the ambiance in Vail is anything but ordinary: outdoors with the Gore Range peaks on the horizon and Vail Mountain towering overhead, plus hundreds of spectators, mud racing, biking and running events happening all around.
However, when it comes to climbing in general, if Takeuchi had to pick one discipline, it would be bouldering.
“My favorite has always been bouldering because of the variety,” she says. “Competing is fun because you get all these fancy climbs by fancy setters. It’s also very competitive and takes a lot of good mentality. I also love to see what I can do at practice – the moves. I love the jumps. I feel so accomplished when I spend 30 minutes trying to do the same move and stick it.”
Best memories on the wall
Although Takeuchi has April’s huge North American Cup win under her belt, her most prized moments in the sport thus far have involved surprising herself.
“One of the most memorable competitions was team trials last year,” she says. “I’ve always been good at speed, but it never has been like, ‘this is something I’m going to be great at.’ I’ve placed well at nationals, but when I went into team trials, everyone was nervous. I was just there for fun. I go, I make the final. I win my first race. My second race, going against one of the girls on the U.S. Team, I was like, OK, this is the end of the road for me at this competition. She slipped and I won the race. I was top four. Then I was going against another girl on the U.S. Team who is very fast. I was like, anything can happen. I didn’t end up winning that race, but I did have a new PR, which is a big deal for me at my age. That was the reason I ranked so high. That one race was the reason I could go to the World Cup.”
Another memorable experience was three years ago at bouldering nationals. Again, the most rewarding and coincidentally the most beneficial component was going into the competition without overthinking.
“My goal for bouldering nationals was to make finals,” she says. “I made it in 10th place. They take top 10. That was a surprise for me. It was an emotional roller coaster. I went in first, which is so nerve-racking. I was the only one on the wall. I ended up flashing three of the four climbs, which no one else did. I ended up in fifth place, which was shocking. It was another of those which I wasn’t stressing much.”
The road ahead
Despite being one of the world’s top climbers, Takeuchi still grapples with the same decisions as most everyday 17-year-olds: her future. With her high school senior year on the horizon this fall, Takeuchi is eyeing the University of Florida or Georgia Tech for college considerations. After participating in a fundraiser for blood cancer, she realized she’s interested in pursuing medicine.
“I might be going down the medical road,” she says. “I just know I want to help people.”
Of course, her future goals also include climbing. For now, she’s zeroing in on short-term accomplishments. Following the Mountain Games, her sights are set on July’s 2026 IFSC Youth World Championships in Italy.
“I have high hopes for youth worlds,” she says. “Next year, since I won’t have youth competitions, I’ll really try to focus on making the speed team again and trying to get better at bouldering. A lot of people have asked me about the Olympics. It’s never specifically been a goal. With climbing, the way the qualification works is so crazy. They only take two females. My ultimate goal is to be happy with how I competed. I’ve spent a lot of nationals sad or mad about how I competed. I just want to be happy and have fun with it.”
Come to the GoPro Mountain Games June 4-7 and cheer on Takeuchi as she tackles the speed and bouldering walls. At 17, she’s just getting started.
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