INDIANAPOLIS -- Piper Kelly was a tiny elementary school kid when she scaled her first wall. Her dad loved rock climbing and he was pretty certain his feisty, athletic daughter would like it, too.

He was right. Kelly not only liked it, but she loved it. It was thrilling. It was an absolutely exhilarating feeling, clenching the stakes and hoisting up toward the next step. Kelly remembers that. She remembers her heart pounding as she raced to the top of the wall as a tiny kid.

But when she would land back on the ground and leave the rock-climbing gym behind, no matter who she tried to talk to about her newfound passion, the response was mostly the same.

In Indiana, no one quite understood exactly what this quirky, eccentric, non-mainstream sport of rock climbing was. So, as Kelly grew older, she gravitated toward mainstream sports — volleyball, track, cross country and soccer — because that's what everyone else was doing.

But when she was 12 years old, the wall came calling again. Kelly wanted to give this sport an honest try. She joined a competitive climbing team and, by the time she was 14, had latched on to speed climbing in full force.

For the next decade, Kelly toiled in Indy's gyms, she persevered, and she rose to become one of the top women's speed climbers in the world.

Kelly is now a speed climber headed to the Olympics.

At the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, in October, Kelly won gold. The medal secured her spot representing the United States in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

"Honestly, it's hard to put into words," Kelly, 24, told IndyStar last week, what it means to be on sports biggest stage. "You've dreamed of it for so long."

'You try to believe in it'

Among women speed climbers, Kelly ranks 28th in the world, according to the International Federation of Sport Climbing, and she is the highest ranking American.

Sometimes Kelly, who went to Irvington Preparatory Academy for high school, said she has to pinch herself to be certain this all is really happening. "You try to believe in it," she said, "especially when you move across the country."

Six weeks before the Pan American Games in October, Kelly packed her bags and moved to Utah to train full time. It's been an intense regimen, speed climbing four days a week, lifting weights four days a week, and focusing on an Olympic berth.

When she secured a spot in Paris, it was the biggest victory of Kelly’s career, setting a personal best competition time of 7.52 seconds.

“I had a really great training block leading up to the Pan Am Games,” said Kelly. "The training was going really, really well so I knew I could do it. But speed climbing has a very low margin of error — I knew it still was not going to be easy. I'm just really excited to have gotten it done and performed.”

Still, Kelly knows she has major strides to make to become a contender for a medal in Paris.

"The Olympics has been the goal so long," Kelly told IndyStar. "At the very least, I would like to make the finals. As for a podium? I would definitely have to improve."

Kelly said she will be working relentlessly to do just that, to improve her time and technique before the summer of 2024 when she lands in Paris, scaling a wall, harkening back to her days as a tiny little girl. A girl who believed climbing was the most exhilarating feeling in the world.

"Nothing is out of reach," she said.

Follow IndyStar sports reporter Dana Benbow on X: @DanaBenbow. Reach her via e-mail: dbenbow@indystar.com.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indy's speed climber phenom Piper Kelly headed to 2024 Paris Olympics