Abstract
This study intends to examine the impacts of route difficulty on the state anxiety and mental toughness level in sport climbing. Our study is designed as an experimental study with a control application. In this context, the working group consisted of 34 athletes with intermediate level sports climbing skills. The athletes were asked to climb two routes, which was easy and difficult to their specified climbing ability. State anxiety inventory and mental toughness scale were applied before and after the climbs. Mental Toughness Scale in Sport (MTS), developed by Sheard, Golby, and Wersch (2009) and adapted into Turkish by Altıntaş (2015) to determine the mental toughness level of athletes after each climb; State Anxiety Inventory (STAI), developed by Spielberger, Gorsuch, and Lushene (1968) and validated by Öner and Le Compte (1985), was used to determine state anxiety. Paired sample t-Test was used in the analysis of the data, the independent sample t-Test was used in the analysis of the independent variables, and the One-Way Anova test was used in the groups with more than two groups. Correlation analysis was used to analyse the relationships. A significant change was detected in the pre- and post-climb state anxiety levels in both routes. In addition, a significant difference was found between the anxiety level before climbing the difficult route and the level of anxiety before climbing the easy route. It was also observed that there was a significant difference between the mental toughness scores after climbing the easy and difficult route. As a result, it can be said that route difficulty affects the level of state anxiety in athletes with moderate climbing ability, but it is concluded that it is not a factor that will make a difference on mental toughness.