Singing Rock STEEL 26
You don’t often see so many people with superpowers in one place. In mid-January 2026, Kladno, Czechia hosted another edition of the international Singing Rock STEEL rope access competition (held as an open Czech Championship). As usual, the event took place at the POLYGON Singing Rock work at height training centre and in the adjacent climbing gym. The competition weekend followed its traditional format as well – the individual competition was held on Saturday, and three-member teams competed on Sunday.
What was new was the date of the event. In recent years, STEEL was usually held in November or December. After discussions between the organisers and the participants, a new January date was chosen after the last edition, which was expected to suit all parties better. The change proved successful, and we can already reveal that the next edition should take place in mid-January 2027.
Since the last edition, STEEL has grown a bit more – this year it welcomed a record 105 competitors from 18 countries. The theme of this year’s competition was SUPERHEROES. Some competitors, as well as some members of the organising team, embraced the theme creatively and prepared themed costumes – on the ropes and below them, we could see various superheroes, their sidekicks, and even villains.
The individual competitors competed in five tasks that tested skills in work at height and rope access. The competitors had to master rope ascent for speed, handling a heavy load, progression through anchor points, delicate work while suspended, climbing a structure, and other challenges.
On the second day, the teams were tasked with assembling a triangular structure from beams in the air, and then simultaneously firing beams from three lasers from the tops of the structure into a single point. At first glance, it might sound simple, but within the assignment the teams had to follow various restrictions that made completing the task significantly more difficult. Well, both the competitors and the judges worked up quite a sweat… There were some misunderstandings and even a few disqualifications, but the best teams, including one all-female team that finished in third place, completed the task within the 15-minute time limit with ease.
Congratulations to the competitors who made it onto the podium, and thank you to all participants for the great commitment and fantastic atmosphere.
BEST WOMEN
1. Helga Androsits (HUN)
2. Dorottya Kowalczyk (HUN)
3. Dóra Kovacs-Csoma (HUN)
BEST MEN
1. Rhys Nadin (JAP)
2. Vince Kovacs-Csoma (HUN)
3. Marek Proba (GER)
CZECH CHAMPIONS
Klára Kašparová & Martin Donát
BEST TEAMS
1. Novikontas (LVA)
2. Go Ropes or Go Home (POL)
3. Hexa Training Ladies (HUN)
BEST CZECH TEAM
SAMBAR
BEST COSTUME
Martin Donát – Aquaman (CZE)
full results
See you in January 2027!
SAMBAR & SINGING ROCK team
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