Aries Susanti Rahayu

Aries Susanti Rahayu (1995-) is a professional sport climber from Indonesia. A Muslim who wears hijab when she climbs, she has been nicknamed ‘Spiderwoman’ for the incredible way she can scale a climbing wall. Rahayu came to international attention in 2019 for breaking the world record for speed climbing. She is the first woman to climb a speed wall in less than seven seconds. Rahayu has also won numerous medals at the Asian Games, the Asian Championships and the World Cup. As a child, she practised climbing trees near her home and in local parks. In 2007, she was introduced to sport climbing by her teacher when she was still a junior high school student. In 2017, she competed in the Climbing World Cup for the first time, and garnered a silver medal at the World Cup in Xiamen. In the 2017 Asian Championships in Tehran, she was awarded a bronze medal. In 2018, she got her first gold medal at the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) World Cup in Chongqing. Then, she achieved a bronze medal in Tai’an and two more gold medals at the World Cups in Wujiang and Xiamen, in China. At the end of the 2018 season, she was second in the overall ranking in the speed discipline. In the same year, at the Asian Championships in Kurayoshi, she came third after she made a false start in the semi-final.