- Brayden Butler won the men's RP2 lead final at the World Climbing Para Series stop in Laval, France, on Aug. 29, his second international win of 2026. The Salt Lake City-based climber is the reigning world champion in his class.
- This story sits inside Utah's climbing lane and connects to the larger statewide sports picture.
- The story is backed by 14 sources and a visible last-verified date.
November 2, 2026
November 2, 2026
4 min / 899 words
14 official links
Brayden Butler keeps winning on the world's walls. The Salt Lake City-based para climber won the men's RP2 lead final at the World Climbing Para Series stop in Laval, France, on Aug. 29, 2026, his second international victory of the year and the latest result in a run that has made him one of the best in the world in his sport class.
World Climbing's report from Laval says Butler "eventually won gold on hold 33+," just ahead of his U.S. teammate Ben Mayforth, who reached hold 33 for silver. Austria's Daniel Wiener took bronze on hold 27 and India's Manikandan Kumar was fourth on 25+. Butler had also finished first in qualification in a men's RP2 field of 12, according to the official World Climbing results.
What is Brayden Butler's 2026 season?
Butler has reached the podium at all three international events he has entered in 2026, according to his World Climbing athlete profile:
- Salt Lake City, May 17: second in men's RP2 lead at the Para Climbing World Cup.
- Innsbruck, Austria, June 16: first.
- Laval, France, Aug. 29: first, at the World Climbing Para Series.
He earned his place on the 2026 U.S. Para Climbing National Team by taking silver at USA Climbing's 2026 Para Climbing National Championships, according to USA Climbing, which lists him on the national team in the men's RP2 category with a Salt Lake City hometown.
He is not entered in the Para Series finale in Fukuoka, Japan, on Nov. 5-6. World Climbing's official registration list for that event, whose entry deadline was Sept. 24, has six men's RP2 climbers and no Butler. The U.S. entry in the class is Johnny Quintana.
When did Brayden Butler become a world champion?
In September 2025, at the Para Climbing World Championships in Seoul. Butler won the men's RP2 lead title there, his first World Championships podium, according to USA Climbing's report on a U.S. team that won 12 medals in Seoul. India's Kumar was also on that podium.
That 2025 season was his best yet. Butler also won the World Cup in Salt Lake City that May and took silver in Innsbruck, and the Utah Sports Commission's honoree page says he reached the podium in every international start of the season. His results before that show a steady climb up the standings:
- 2022: sixth at the World Cups in Salt Lake City and Innsbruck, his first international season.
- 2023: fourth in Salt Lake City, third in Innsbruck, fifth in Villars, Switzerland, and fifth at the World Championships in Bern.
- 2024: fifth in Salt Lake City and third in Innsbruck.
- 2025: World Cup gold in Salt Lake City, silver in Innsbruck and the world title in Seoul.
In April 2026, at the 14th annual Governor's State of Sport Awards at the Delta Center, the Utah Sports Commission named him Utah's Adaptive Male Athlete of the Year for that 2025 season.
How did Brayden Butler start climbing?
Climbing started as recovery. Butler was eight years old and racing motocross at a national level when an accident left him with a traumatic brain injury and a hemorrhagic stroke, according to his World Climbing profile, which notes he lives with left neglect. He competes in RP2, a sport class for climbers with limited range, power or stability. He turned to climbing after the 2014 accident, a sport his father already did, according to a November 2025 profile in The Daily Utah Chronicle.
He grew up in Alabama. A 2022 story by Birmingham's ABC 33/40 found him at 16 training at High Point Climbing and Fitness in Chelsea, Alabama, and the Chronicle says he moved to Utah for his last two years of high school, living with a host family, after USA Climbing moved its headquarters to Salt Lake City. He is coached by Brian Tannler, according to World Climbing, and his profile says he has also taken up mountain biking.
He has stayed in Utah. The Chronicle describes him as a student at the University of Utah and quotes him on the choice: "I chose the University of Utah because they fostered a good school-life balance."
Is para climbing in the Paralympics?
Yes, starting with Los Angeles 2028. The International Paralympic Committee's Governing Board approved para climbing for the LA28 Paralympic Games in June 2024, and World Climbing confirmed eight medal events for its debut in June 2025: men's B1 and women's B2, and men's and women's AU2, AL2 and RP1. Butler's class, RP2, is not among those eight, so his titles come from the World Climbing circuit and the World Championships. The circuit returns to Salt Lake City every spring.
Key facts:
- Athlete: Brayden Butler, men's RP2 para climber, U.S. Para Climbing National Team (USA Climbing lists him from Salt Lake City; he grew up in Alabama)
- Latest result: first in men's RP2 lead, World Climbing Para Series Laval, France, Aug. 29, 2026, on hold 33+, ahead of Ben Mayforth (USA, 33) and Daniel Wiener (Austria, 27)
- 2026 season: second in Salt Lake City (May 17), first in Innsbruck (June 16), first in Laval (Aug. 29)
- Title: 2025 men's RP2 lead world champion, Seoul
- Award: Utah Sports Commission Adaptive Male Athlete of the Year for 2025, presented April 2026
- Next: not entered in the Para Series finale in Fukuoka, Japan (Nov. 5-6)
- Paralympics: para climbing debuts at LA28 with eight medal events; RP2 is not one of them
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