On the walls of Blochaus bouldering gym in Fyshwick, where he spends plenty of time, Brown is at ease. In a few swift moves he’s reached the top of a white climb - the hardest level of those labelled on the scale from beginner blue to monkey. The beauty of Blochaus is there’s no ropes and no harness. The walls are shorter with padded mats beneath. The climbs are like solving a puzzle. Bouldering, Brown says, is more about movement of the body than pure strength. Brown works with athletes all over the world, providing training remotely through his business Athletes by Choice. "The thing I love most about climbing is that you’ll be challenged, but regardless of the level you’re at we’ll have the same experience," Brown says. "If I’m climbing on a difficult one over here and you’re climbing something a bit more moderate over there, we’re both physically challenged, we’re trying to solve that puzzle.

Duncan Brown at the Blochaus climbing gym. Credit:Dion Georgopoulos "We’ll both be going through the exact same process. We might spend half an hour or an hour trying to unlock these moves and go through this roller coaster of frustration and inspiration and finally, you’ll do the climb and there’s this sense of satisfaction." "That’s what I love, unlocking all these little nuances of it all to be able to finally get to the top of something." He says that applies on the walls of the gym as much as it does to a 1000-metre rock face. One minute, he describes, you’re at your absolute limit and you fall off. The next, you solve that puzzle and reach the top, and it doesn’t feel hard.

Climbing in Yangshuo, China. Credit:Duncan Brown Collection Aside from the physical and mental challenge, rock climbing can’t help but come with an incredible view, Brown says. He can't pinpoint a favourite climbing location - although he did live in mountains of China for years - because the areas he’s been have all been stunning. "Everywhere we go climbing is some sort of beautiful place. Regardless of the style, regardless of the type of rock or the country, you're in a beautiful place." But the surrounds of Canberra will always hold a special place in his heart, as that’s where it all began.

While studying in Canberra, he met climbers. "Someone in my class was already a climber, so I tried borrowing his climbing shoes and tried to climb the outside of the building and stuff," Brown says. "Then we started going to the gym. It was one of those things that when you start doing it, you’re hooked. I was all in." He progressed to the gritty granite peaks in Namadgi, a place he returns to regularly. "My first day outside, really climbing, was out in Namadgi. I spent a lot of time climbing locally, and a lot of time down on the south coast, near Nowra."

Point Perpendicular remains a standout - the 80-metre high sandstone cliffs at the outermost edge of Jervis Bay fall directly into the ocean. Brown has lived in all of the well-known climbing areas in Australia including the Blue Mountains, the Grampians and Mount Arapiles. Climbing at Legoland in Namadgi. Credit:Body Image Photography "Growing up on a farm and having a family that liked doing outdoorsy things like going camping and fishing meant we were in the outdoors all the time," he says. Often told to entertain himself - "there’s a whole farm out there, go and explore it" - led to a love of being outside and in new places, and climbing enabled that. In his 20s, travel became a question of where was good for climbing, and going there. "I wanted all of it. I was pretty obsessed," he says.

"Personally I really enjoy the big adventure stuff, what we call big walls and multi-pitch climbing where things might be two, three, five hundred or a thousand metres high." While he prefers big wall climbing, he does "a bit of everything". Bouldering, small climbs, traditional climbs. In winter, he ice climbs. In competition climbing, there are three disciplines - bouldering, sport and speed. Bouldering, where there are no ropes, is limited to a certain height and it's physically difficult in a short distance.

Sport climbing is with a rope. It's a type of lead climbing and is about very technical, endurance routes with a time limit. Speed climbing is the equivalent of sprinting. It's a set track on a 15-metre wall. Brown says the world record is less than six seconds. Duncan Brown at the Blochaus climbing gym. Credit:Dion Georgopoulos In the past, climbers have chosen one or two disciplines to focus on. However, the Olympic athletes are required to be specialists in all three. "Not everyone was super psyched about that because a lot of people that traditionally do lead and boulder don’t like doing speed, but they've had to take it in their stride and learn," Brown says.

For the Olympic format, climbers compete against each other in speed, then go straight into bouldering and then lead. Brown says that's the equivalent of a sprinter going out for a 100-metre race, going straight into a hurdles event and then finishing with a 10-kilometre run. "You have to do it back to back and be the best at all of them. The athletes are phenomenal." The format, trialled for the first time at the 2018 World Championships in Austria, is partly being used because the Olympics can only allocate one medal for new events. Brown says he's just pleased that rock climbers have been invited to participate in the Olympics at all.