Camille Naredo

Praj Dela Cruz celebrates after winning the women's elite bouldering category at the 2026 PCI National Championship, June 22, 2026. Handout/Pilipinas Climbing 

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2026 PCI National Championship

Paige Javier

ABS-CBN News

<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1782315617014viber_image_2026-06-24_23-25-15-142.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960" alt="Praj Dela Cruz celebrates after winning the women&#x27;s elite bouldering category at the 2026 PCI National Championship, June 22, 2026. Handout/Pilipinas Climbing "/>Praj Dela Cruz celebrates after winning the women&#x27;s elite bouldering category at the 2026 PCI National Championship, June 22, 2026. Handout/Pilipinas Climbing </div>MANILA – At just 15 years old, Praj Dela Cruz is already a three-time national champion in the women&#x27;s elite bouldering category.The Filipina climber won first place in the women&#x27;s elite bouldering category at the 2026 PCI National Championship held at Boulder Space on Sunday.Dela Cruz bested national team veterans Lissa Vidal and Yca Dizon, who placed second and third place respectively.The 15-year-old makes use of her experience to be able to adjust and ultimately solve the problems on the wall.&quot;I feel personally that I have matured more as an athlete. And so I was able to realize that as a tall competitor, I cannot do the same. I cannot do the boulder the same way the other shorter athletes do it or because climbing is like an art, right? So depending on your style of climbing, each climber is unique to their own style,&quot; Dela Cruz told ABS-CBN News on Wednesday. &quot;So that&#x27;s why I had to learn, well, I have to adapt to my own body and realize that this boulder can work for me. So that&#x27;s what I realized. And that&#x27;s what really made a big difference this nationals,&quot; she added.Dela Cruz is based in the United States, doing most of her training and preparation for competitions there, under the guidance of her father and coach Bidz. For Dela Cruz, she cherishes every opportunity to come home, compete and connect with the Philippine climbing community.&quot;Every time I come back to the Philippines, I always feel at home and competing alongside my other Filipinos. Not only that, but the crowd is so supportive and they&#x27;re always so happy to just see the top [climbers], see like any good performance and so that&#x27;s why I&#x27;m proud of my gold,&quot; she added.As the bouldering finals coincided with Father&#x27;s Day, Dela Cruz dedicated her gold medal to her dad, who introduced her to sports climbing.&quot;When I won the Boulder Nationals, it was Father&#x27;s Day. And so I was like, at least I could give something back to my dad. You know, he always looks very grumpy in the crowd. He doesn&#x27;t look happy. But when we come home, he&#x27;s like, oh, my God, that was so good, Praj. And he likes to brag about it,&quot; she shared.&quot;And so that&#x27;s why I&#x27;m like, okay he cares. Right. So that&#x27;s why I&#x27;m glad that I was able to give something back to my dad,&quot; Dela Cruz said.In the men&#x27;s elite bouldering category, EJ Salga took home gold while Iman Mora and Paul Suson clinched silver and bronze respectively.During the 33rd Southeast Asian Games last year, Dela Cruz won bronze in the bouldering event and recorded her personal best 9.3 seconds in speed climbing. The 15-year-old will compete in the women&#x27;s elite lead category in nationals for the fourth time in her career, as she seeks to be well-rounded in climbing.&quot;It&#x27;s a very endurance-y discipline. And so learning how to change my climbing to a calm breathing, like just in the moment of the climb and just slowing down the moments one by one is really important when it comes to lead climbing. And I&#x27;m excited to see how it goes because for me, this is a good exposure,&quot; she explained.&quot;That is what my goal is in the future, to be like a very good all-around climber so that whenever the Philippines needs me and they&#x27;re like, Praj, go, I could just be sent out and do whatever they want me to do,&quot; Dela Cruz added.The lead leg of the 2026 PCI National Championship is set from June 27 to 28 at Climb Central Manila.<div><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DmRazT6sHk4?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe> </div>

At just 15 years old, Praj Dela Cruz is already a three-time national champion in the women's elite bouldering category.

At just 15 years old, Praj Dela Cruz is already a three-time national champion in the women's elite bouldering category.

Climber Praj Dela Cruz credits maturity for 3rd national bouldering title

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Climber Praj Dela Cruz credits maturity for 3rd national bouldering title

Paige Javier,

ABS-CBN News

Published June 24, 2026 11:43 PM PHT

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Updated June 26, 2026 06:46 PM PHT

Read More:

Climbing

Praj Dela Cruz

Bouldering

2026 PCI National Championship

Pilipinas Climbing

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