Michael Finn-Henry

Biography

Born in Massachusetts, Michael Finn-Henry first competed for USA Climbing, making his international debut in 2016. In 2017, he earned a bronze medal in the junior speed event at the IFSC Youth World Championships. In 2018, he earned his first top-10 result on the IFSC World Cup circuit, finishing ninth in Villars, Switzerland.  

Finn-Henry was a founding member of the Vanderbilt University Climbing Team. He won the US Collegiate National Championship four straight years.

He then transitioned to competing for Canada, leveraging his dual citizenship and motivated by the training opportunities available in British Columbia. He soon became Canada’s highest-ranked speed climber. One of his standout achievements was breaking the Canadian men’s speed record twice. He recorded a time of 5.69 seconds at the 2022 Chamonix World Cup, which he later improved to 5.59 seconds at the 2023 Salt Lake City World Cup (this mark was broken by Ethan Flynn-Pitcher in July 2023, when he hit 5.48 seconds at the Chamonix World Cup).

A Little More About Michael

Getting into the Sport: His introduction to climbing was not driven by Olympic aspirations, but by a need for therapy due to his dyslexia… Outside interests: Graduated from Vanderbilt University with a degree in mechanical engineering and business… Pursuing a PhD in mechanical engineering at Harvard University… Runs a multi-million-dollar medical device company that he started during his undergrad…