François Legrand

François Legrand is a French professional rock climber who specialized in sport climbing and competition climbing and became one of the most successful lead climbing competitors in the history of the discipline. Born on 26 March 1970, he was the son of a mountain guide and spent much of his boyhood in the mountains, although his parents hoped he would follow his father into guiding rather than climb for sport. He began competing nationally in 1988 and won his first Lead Climbing World Cup in 1990, at the age of twenty. Over a competitive career that ended in 2003 he won five Lead Climbing World Cups, in 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1997, three consecutive Lead Climbing World Championships, in 1991, 1993 and 1995, and four Rock Masters events. Since 2009 he has coached the French national youth team together with Rémi Samyn.