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Praj Dela Cruz took first place in the elite women's category in the 2026 PCI National Championship, June 28, 2026 at Climb Central Manila. Paige Javier, ABS-CBN News

Article (news)

SPORT CLIMBING

Paige Javier

ABS-CBN News

<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1782705846480viber_image_2026-06-29_11-35-01-036.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960" alt="Praj Dela Cruz took first place in the elite women&#x27;s category in the 2026 PCI National Championship, June 28, 2026 at Climb Central Manila. Paige Javier, ABS-CBN News"/>Praj Dela Cruz took first place in the elite women&#x27;s category in the 2026 PCI National Championship, June 28, 2026 at Climb Central Manila. Paige Javier, ABS-CBN News</div>MANILA – Praj Dela Cruz and John Veloria topped the elite women&#x27;s and men&#x27;s categories in the lead finals of the 2026 PCI National Championship on Sunday at Climb Central Manila.  Just a week after winning first place in elite women&#x27;s boulder, Dela Cruz struck gold again in the lead discipline.  The 15-year-old bested seven other female climbers in a highly competitive and tightly contested lead finals. <div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/othersports/2026/6/24/climber-praj-dela-cruz-credits-maturity-for-3rd-national-bouldering-title-2343">READ: Climber Praj Dela Cruz credits maturity for 3rd national bouldering title</a></div>Last year&#x27;s lead champion Lissa Vidal took home the silver, while Joanne Ala captured bronze. With the victory, Dela Cruz goes back to the United States with two gold medals from this year&#x27;s nationals. &quot;Out of all the Boulder titles that I have won in the past, I am so grateful. And not only that, but this is my first time competing in LEAD for the Philippine Nationals, and I was able to bring back the gold. Not only that, but I was able to do what I would say is a double, which means getting two golds within the event,&quot; Dela Cruz told ABS-CBN News. &quot;And doing that and making that type of history at such a young age is amazing. Because like I said last time we talked, it&#x27;s important to continue pushing this sport. And now that I hold this medal, I&#x27;m just so proud of myself,&quot; she added. Dela Cruz earlier said she decided to join the lead discipline in order to be able to develop as an all-around sports climber.  In the elite men&#x27;s division, last year&#x27;s silver medalist John Veloria took home the gold. Paul Suson clinched silver, while Jannuel &quot;Ylo&quot; Dizon captured bronze for third place. &quot;Actually, di ko alam pa rin yung feeling ko eh. Right now, medyo maraming competitor kasi sobrang laki na yung pool of time and everyone&#x27;s actually really strong. So, wasn&#x27;t expecting na makakapasok pa rin ako sa, or mananalo ba ako actually. Pero, I&#x27;m really happy na nanalo pa rin ako sa lead,&quot; Veloria told ABS-CBN News. &quot;I think, mas naging consistent lang ako dun sa lead compared to other discipline. Pero, yun. So, nag-pay off na yung consistency. And yeah, I&#x27;m happy with the result,&quot; he added. <div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1782705890099viber_image_2026-06-29_11-35-01-789.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960" alt="John Veloria took first place in the elite men&#x27;s category in the 2026 PCI National Championship, June 28, 2026 at Climb Central Manila. Paige Javier, ABS-CBN News"/>John Veloria took first place in the elite men&#x27;s category in the 2026 PCI National Championship, June 28, 2026 at Climb Central Manila. Paige Javier, ABS-CBN News</div>Pilipinas Climbing Secretary General Chelle Suarez shared the improvements from last year&#x27;s nationals. &quot;This year we really tried to elevate the standards of the competition organization. We really hired a lot of people from the outside, international route setters, international judge that is certified by world climbing,&quot; she said. &quot;Part of our mission is to grow the climbing community. As our community grows bigger, we also want to improve our system, improve our organization and improve our competition,&quot; Suarez added. <div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/othersports/2026/6/26/praj-dela-cruz-aims-to-help-ph-climbing-community-grow-further-2205">READ: Praj Dela Cruz aims to help PH climbing community grow further, encourage more female climbers</a></div>Following the awarding, however, several posts circulated on social media raising concerns about the results of the elite women&#x27;s finals.  Suarez told ABS-CBN News the body will have discussions on the competition and the concerns raised by the members of the community. &quot;The organizing team for nationals will be having a debrief to go through the competition, including the concerns that have been raised,&quot; she said.  With nationals done and dusted, the Pilipinas Climbing official said they are glad to see the growing climbing community and potential of the young climbers. &quot;We&#x27;re very happy na yung level of the climbers are also increasing narin. There are a lot [who] are part of our youth team and dev [developmental] team na umangat yung this year in the competition in both bouldering and lead. So it&#x27;s a very bright future for Pilipinas Climbing,&quot; Suarez said. The 2026 PCI Nationals for Boulder took place from June 20 to 21 in Boulder Space, while Lead happened from June 27 to 28 in Climb Central Manila.

Praj Dela Cruz and John Veloria topped the elite women's and men's categories in the lead finals of the 2026 PCI National Championship on Sunday at Climb Central Manila.

Praj Dela Cruz and John Veloria topped the elite women's and men's categories in the lead finals of the 2026 PCI National Championship on Sunday at Climb Central Manila.

Dela Cruz, Veloria rule elite women's and men's lead finals in 2026 PCI Nationals

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Dela Cruz, Veloria rule elite women's and men's lead finals in 2026 PCI Nationals

Paige Javier,

ABS-CBN News

Published June 29, 2026 12:08 PM PHT

Read More:

Climbing

Sports Climbing

2026 PCI National Championship

Praj Dela Cruz

John Veloria

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