Introduction

Alongside her twin sister Natalia, Aleksandra has risen through the ranks in a competitive Speed climbing nation: Poland. Following closely behind reigning World and Olympic Speed Record holder Aleksandra Miroslaw, Kalucka earned her first World Cup gold in 2022 in Edinburgh.

In 2023, Aleksandra broke her leg and missed much of the season, with her sister Natalia making progress as she recovered. Natalia has two World Cup wins to her name, an overall World Cup title in 2022 and a faster PB (6.45 seconds), while Aleksandra has just one gold but more consistency in competition, making 97% of finals compared to Natalia’s 90%.

Qualification route

Olympic Qualifier Series - 2nd overall

Aleksandra narrowly missed out on a Paris place at the World Championship in Bern, finishing 4th, and at the European Qualifier in Rome, where she came 2nd to teammate Aleksandra Miroslaw. 

In the OQS, Natalia was five points ahead of Aleksandra after Shanghai and seemed the more likely to clinch the final Polish spot, but it was a bittersweet moment in Budapest as Aleksandra progressed to the semi-finals, in doing so guaranteeing her Olympic place and knocking her twin sister out of the running. She breezed through the semi-finals in a time of 6.61, before registering the fastest time of the competition, 6.50, to take home the crown and finish 2nd overall ahead of Natalia in 5th.

Trivia

The Kalucka twins were born prematurely on Christmas Day in 2001. Both are blind in one eye with only 10% vision - Aleksandra in the right eye and Natalia in the left. Aleksandra will be studying at the University of Edinburgh from this autumn.

UKC prediction

Top-10 finish. With an IFSC PB of 6.55 - and an unofficial PB of 6.50 - Aleksandra is in the upper half of the field in terms of speed. Perhaps now the pressure of fighting for a spot against her sister is off, Aleksandra will be more relaxed and focused on her own performance - with Natalia cheering her on from the sidelines.