"Why should I pay taxes so that guy can climb?" | Interview with Christoph Hanke

For Christoph Hanke, too, 2025 marked his last season in the World Cup. The 31-year-old lead climbing specialist discusses the generational shift in competitive climbing in this interview – and why it remains difficult to make a living from elite sports.

17 years in top-level climbing: a retrospective

There are few German professional climbers who have been around as long as Christopher HankeIn 2008, at the tender age of 13, he competed nationally for the Ringsee section for the first time – initially in bouldering and lead climbing. Over the course of his 17-year competitive career, he accumulated countless meters of climbing and experience as a youth and later as an adult, both nationally and with the World Cup team. Lead climbing established itself as his signature discipline, remaining a constant throughout his career despite occasional forays into bouldering and speed climbing.

Specialization pays off: While Christoph proves himself at the national level against strong competition like Jan Hojer and Alex Megos, he regularly reaches the semi-finals internationally. In 2017, he competed in a World Cup final for the first time in Villars, achieving his best international result with 6th place. At home, after winning several silver medals, he finally crowned himself German Lead Climbing Champion in 2020.

Nevertheless, the years in competitive sports have left their mark: Christoph has to undergo two shoulder surgeries, missing a season. In 2023, he makes his comeback in the World Cup, reaching the semifinals again by the end of the season. A year later, he demonstrates once more that he can compete at the highest level, winning bronze at the European Cup in Augsburg. 2025 marks the end of his international competition career. Christoph Hanke celebrates his farewell from the big stage at... Lead World Cup in Madrid – not with the dream result, but with the feeling that it is now time for new paths.

Christoph Hanke in the LACRUX interview

Chris, you announced about a month ago that your international competitions were over. What have you been doing since then?

I actually stopped properly a bit earlier, after my last World Cup in July. At that time, however, I was still being supported by the German Armed Forces as a sports soldier. I couldn't just quit overnight – after all, it's taxpayers' money (laughs). That's why I only officially ended my career in the fall. But I already knew what would happen next, because things had developed that way over the course of the year.

Will you tell us?

I'll be employed by the German Armed Forces starting in December and will be working as a coach for the national team. My long-term focus will be on lead climbing, my passion. Initially, though, it's about learning all the processes and structures. Being a coach isn't just about standing at the wall training athletes; there's a lot of organization involved. 

Congratulations! But that also means you would have remained an active athlete for a while without this offer?

I hadn't originally planned to end my career in 2025. I felt very fit at the beginning of the year, but then I increasingly realized that I no longer had the same motivation as the younger athletes coming up. The sense of purpose behind it all simply disappeared.

At the same time, I've always wanted to go into teaching and pass on my knowledge. Therefore, the offer from the German Alpine Club (DAV) and the German Armed Forces is an incredible opportunity: I have excellent financial security and can fully dedicate myself to being a trainer.

What would you like to pass on to the younger generation as a coach in the future?

It's important to me to support athletes in staying physically and mentally healthy. Competitive sports are incredibly tough, but they can and should also be fun. Not everyone is cut out for it. This is especially critical in youth sports: children who are extremely ambitious and disciplined also miss out on a part of their childhood. Parents and coaches should keep that in mind. These are very formative years, and it's crucial to ensure that the kids develop a healthy attitude towards themselves and learn to listen to their bodies.

Several German athletes in their twenties have retired this year. Will we eventually see no climbers over 30 in the World Cup?

In my experience, most people drop out of competitive climbing sometime in their mid-twenties. I believe the peak performance age in climbing will settle somewhere between late adolescence and early twenties, even though it's difficult to measure precisely at the moment. Precisely because this period is so short, it's all the more important to go through the entire process in a healthy way – mentally as well.

If you, as an athlete, realize that you're just torturing yourself, you should probably stop. There are so many other great things you can do in life. You don't have to wear yourself out in the gym every day and eventually resort to substances that really harm you.

What challenges do you still see in your new job?

As an association, we don't have the financial resources of, say, a football club. We don't have training centers where an athletic trainer and a full-time physiotherapist are on site every day. We try to do a great deal with a very limited budget. Initially, I'll primarily be traveling as a jumper and providing support wherever I can. I also need to get to know the entire structure and, above all, many of the athletes. In some cases, there's an age difference of more than 15 years between us. It takes time to get to know each other.

We'll get to the topic of financing later – let's stick to the sport for now. What are the biggest changes you've observed in your 17 years of competitive climbing?

The level of competition is incredibly high these days. You see athletes at the World Championships who have already been on the podium during the season and still end up in 30th or 40th place. It's really crazy now, and it's also due to the fact that the structures have completely changed. When I started, for example, there weren't any international competitions for young athletes – the very first European Cup was a huge deal for us. 

Today, every major city has climbing and bouldering gyms where the younger generation learns the sport in a completely different way. Some of this generation has no connection to real rock climbing anymore because they learned to climb indoors and see it as an indoor sport. They're really keen on training, team selection, team uniforms, and competitions. This creates a strong pressure from the grassroots level. 

How do you see this as someone who comes from the rock?

I'm relaxed about this generational difference now, even though I certainly saw it differently back then. Sport had a different character where I came from. Training wasn't automatically cool; it depended a lot on where you were from. Of course, in Franconia, thanks to Wolfgang Güllich, training was definitely a big deal. 

I don't see the fact that the mindset of young people differs from our generation as a problem. For me, indoor and outdoor climbing are two different sports, and both have their place. Besides, we'd have completely different problems if all the indoor climbers suddenly went outside to the rocks (laughs).

Competitive climbing has almost become its own sport. How have you experienced this change in style?

When climbing became an Olympic sport, suddenly everything revolved around television formats, spectator appeal, and predictability. This massively influenced route setting and the competition format. We used to have eight minutes of climbing time in the finals – and the training for that reflected that: small holds and lots of moves until you collapsed. When easier holds, larger volumes, and new shapes modernized the style, you had to specifically train bouldering to keep up. The routes are now significantly more complex and exciting, which I think is a good thing.

Alma Bestvater has in our interview It was said that route setting, especially for lead climbing, can counteract the problems surrounding RED-S. What's your take on that?

We are a sport where relative strength to weight plays a major role. However, under truly strenuous, sustained physical exertion, extreme underweight is not necessarily an advantage. Overall, route setting in lead climbing is already moving in this direction, but this could be implemented much more consistently.

For example, I'm always surprised when routes are set in the World Cup finals that then get three or more tops. It's incredibly frustrating for athletes when they can't improve because everyone else is climbing so far. Overall, though, it's good that today it's no longer just about holding onto small holds for as long as possible, but that technique, coordination, and the ability to recover in different positions play a bigger role.

Let's talk about another hot topic in professional climbing. This year there has been a lot of discussion about funding for the national team; there was even a private [unclear - possibly referring to a specific issue or topic]. Donation appealWhy doesn't this seem to be working properly in Germany yet?

I believe this has many societal reasons. Historically, sport in Germany has always been associated with military fitness. This has receded into the background since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the abolition of conscription. As a soldier-athlete, I saw very clearly during basic training what the average fitness level of society is like.

With competitive sports, the legitimate question arises: What value does it have for society? Why should someone pay taxes so that guy can go climbing? If you ask me, sport has enormous social benefits. A healthy society relieves the burden on the healthcare system. Sport is incredibly important, especially for children and young people: They learn about teamwork, fairness, the joy of movement, and a good sense of their bodies. This doesn't necessarily have to be in competitive sports.

Where do you see the structural problems specifically in German climbing?

Firstly, funding for elite sports has generally decreased. Secondly, in climbing, we have the German Alpine Club (DAV), a huge organization with around 1,6 million members. Competitive climbing is only a small part of that. A lot of public relations work is needed, and we're not doing ourselves any favors if the public mainly notices issues like RED-S. Someone who's primarily focused on youth programs or nature conservation within the DAV then looks at elite sports and thinks: What are you actually doing there? And you want money for that? I can understand that to some extent.

Then there's the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) and the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI), through which elite sports funding is administered and to whose guidelines we are bound. They, in turn, see the DAV's income and ask: Why should we give you additional money?

On the other hand, many people at the German Alpine Club's (DAV) elite sports division are trying to get the best possible results for the athletes: as national coaches, in the sports directorate, as physiotherapists, or in administration. They are trying to create positions, hire people with expertise, and build structures. The necessary resources are often lacking. Therefore, the elite sports division is working with the national coaches to secure more funding from the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI). A lot of persuasion work is being done behind the scenes.

You yourself served as a sports soldier in the German Armed Forces for eleven years, which is not unusual in professional climbing. How did that come about?

After graduating from vocational high school, it was clear to me: either I made the leap to becoming a professional, or I started an apprenticeship or university studies. I didn't want to burden my parents with financing my competitive sports career – that probably wouldn't have been possible anyway. I joined the German Armed Forces through competitions. Back then, climbing wasn't yet an Olympic sport, and funding was initially only designed for one or two years at most. That changed with the Olympics, and I moved into long-term funding.

What role do such subsidies play for athletes?

Without the 800 sponsored climbing positions provided by the German Armed Forces, as well as by customs and state police forces, there would essentially be no competitive sports in Germany. Looking at the Olympics, a large proportion of the athletes are supported by such organizations. Overall, very few climbers can actually make a living from the sport. The vast majority are enrolled somewhere as students for insurance purposes, perhaps receive support from their parents, set routes on the side, or have some sports funding and a few sponsors. This is enough to compete, but it doesn't offer a realistic prospect for life after their climbing career.

I can respect that not everyone wants to serve in the German Armed Forces. At the same time, you have financial and social security, and above all, excellent medical care. After my first shoulder surgery, I had about 80 rehabilitation sessions. I met people there who, after a standard shoulder operation, might have had six appointments and then had to go back to work. My physiotherapist told me: "You're not going back until you can do a one-armed pull-up again." Prescriptions were extended until then, and the German Armed Forces supported this.

Climbing has become quite widespread. Shouldn't that have made it easier to make a living from climbing?

Intuitively, this sounds logical, but in my experience, the conditions have actually worsened. This is largely due to social media: In the past, you climbed a difficult route, a photographer took a good picture, it went to sponsors or into a magazine – that was enough exposure. Today, you need various channels, you have to be active on them regularly, post discount codes, help shape advertising campaigns, maybe even make vlogs. When it comes to sponsorship, it's sometimes more important to be authentic and entertaining than to be climbing at the top of the world.

Alex [Megos, editor's note] and I tried to keep up with YouTube to some extent. Back then, we got quotes for a professional production – you can easily end up spending €30.000. Sponsors thought our idea was cool, but they didn't have the budget. So we did it ourselves. We were lucky enough not to be completely dependent on it and could do a lot of things as unprofessionally as we wanted (laughs). Today, many people work as influencers alongside their sport because otherwise it's financially difficult.

How exactly does this financial pressure affect the health of athletes? 

I think I speak for many when I say that sometimes people choose to continue even though they realize it's detrimental to their health. At some point, some athletes' motivation for competitive sports isn't 100% anymore, but they don't know any other way of life. Some then continue despite physical warning signs because they don't want to, or can't, leave this system.

Here, the issue of weight comes into play again, as success can – unfortunately – be influenced to a certain extent in the short term. Over the years, I've often observed that even a good result is enough for people to slip into an eating disorder. Getting out of that is incredibly difficult.

You often hear criticism that the governing bodies aren't doing enough to combat RED-S. What's your take on that?

From the outside, it sometimes seems as if nothing is happening on this issue. That's not true. There are guidelines from the world federation, and we at the DAV have additional, long-standing internal guidelines, some of which are stricter than the international ones.

At the same time, we still see athletes who are clearly not healthy. If they are very successful, it has an enormous influence on young athletes. Many people are quick to say: "Then just suspend them." But as a federation or coach, you can't simply issue a competition ban, which can be legally considered a work ban. Furthermore, in that case, the person's entire livelihood could collapse, which would only cause further damage. The goal must be to build a bridge so that those affected can regain a healthy relationship with sport.

What would need to change in elite climbing to prevent things from getting to this point – and to ensure that people don't end up with permanent damage from their careers?

Ideally, everyone on the roster would have access to ongoing psychological support. Other sports have joint training camps where issues are addressed. We're still a ways off from that, though. What urgently needs to change is the attitude towards psychological support. Unfortunately, many people still immediately associate the word "psychologist" with problems. But our minds are like muscles that can be trained. Seeking support isn't a sign of weakness – quite the opposite.

I also think it's important to have a social circle outside the climbing bubble. It really grounds you. In the climbing scene, you're the athlete – but it's also good to have people who couldn't care less whether you've just climbed a World Cup event. And I think it's helpful to have a hobby that has nothing to do with climbing. It reminds you that there are other things in life.

Speaking of other things in life: We now know what's next for you professionally. What other plans do you have for the future?

First, I want to give my body a rest and rediscover my motivation. I'll never stop climbing, but I'm just burned out right now. Instead, I'm doing a lot of other things that have always interested me but that I never had time for. I'm currently trying out all sorts of martial arts – it's totally awesome because, as a complete beginner, I'm experiencing a crazy learning curve.

As soon as I have more motivation for climbing again, there are tons of projects waiting for me that I've accumulated over the years. I'd also like to broaden my horizons a bit and try more trad climbing and alpinism. Furthermore, I can imagine competing in a German Cup or even the German Championships if I qualify.

Which parts of your athlete's life will you miss – and which ones not so much?

I always enjoyed the training, but the logistics behind it were quite demanding. I spent two-thirds of my season training abroad, sometimes driving 80.000 kilometers a year for it. I probably won't miss all the waiting and sitting around during training either (laughs).

What I'll definitely miss is the feeling of competing, the adrenaline rush, and the constant mental struggle to get myself back on track. It's uncomfortable, yet addictive. I'll definitely miss that – it was simply a really cool time.

Thank you for the conversation and all the best for your future!

That might interest you

• This is how the IFSC takes action against RED-S in competition climbing
• The DAV national team lacks money – appeal for donations from Megos

+ + +

Credits cover photo: DAV/Hannes Huch