The IFSC Climbing World Championships are the biennial world championship event for competition climbing that is organized by the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC). This event determines the male and female world champions in the three disciplines of sport climbing: lead climbing, bouldering, and speed climbing. Since 2012, a Combined ranking is also determined, for climbers competing in all disciplines, and additional medals are awarded based on that ranking. The first event was organized in Frankfurt in 1991.
USA Climbing is the national governing body of the sport of competition climbing in the United States. It promotes competition climbing in the United States in the disciplines of bouldering, lead climbing, and speed climbing, in elite, youth and collegiate formats. USA Climbing is recognized by the International Federation for Sport Climbing (IFSC), the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC)
The IFSC Climbing World Cup is a series of climbing competitions held annually and organized by the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC). The athletes compete in three disciplines: lead, bouldering and speed. The number of competitions and venues vary from year to year. The first World Cup was held in 1989, and included only lead climbing events. Speed climbing was introduced in 1998 and bouldering in 1999. For 18 seasons, from 1989 to 2006, World Cups were held under the auspices of UIAA and called UIAA Climbing World Cups. Since 2007, they have been held under the auspices of the IFSC.
Sport climbing made its Olympic debut at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. Two events were held, one each for men and women. The format controversially consisted of one combined event with three disciplines: lead climbing, speed climbing and bouldering. The medals were determined based on best performance across all three disciplines. This format was previously tested at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics. The Olympic code for sports climbing is CLB.
The 2018 IFSC Climbing World Championships, the 15th edition, were held in Innsbruck, Austria from 6 to 16 September 2018. The championships consisted of lead, speed, bouldering, paraclimbing, and combined events.
The 2017 IFSC Climbing World Cup was held in 15 locations. Bouldering competitions were held in 7 locations, lead in 8 locations, and speed in 7 locations. The season began on 7 April in Meiringen, Switzerland and concluded on 12 November in Kranj, Slovenia.
The 2016 IFSC Climbing World Championships, the 14th edition, were held in Paris, France from 14 to 18 September 2016.
The 2016 IFSC Climbing World Cup was held in 16 locations. Bouldering, lead and speed competitions were held in 7 locations. The season began on 15 April in Meiringen, Switzerland and concluded on 27 November in Kranj, Slovenia.
The 2015 IFSC Climbing World Cup was held in 13 locations. Bouldering competitions were held in 5 locations, lead in 7 locations, and speed in 5 locations. The season began on 17 May in Central Saanich, Canada and concluded on 15 November in Kranj, Slovenia.
The 2014 IFSC Climbing World Cup was held in 16 locations. Bouldering competitions were held in 8 locations, lead in 8 locations, and speed in 7 locations. The season began on 26 April in Chongqing, China and concluded on 16 November in Kranj, Slovenia.
The 2014 IFSC Climbing World Championships, the 13th edition, were held in Munich, Germany from 21 to 23 August 2014 for bouldering and in Gijón, Spain from 8 to 14 September 2014 for lead, speed, and paraclimbing.
The 2012 IFSC Climbing World Championships, the 12th edition, were held in Paris, France, from 12 to 16 September 2012.
The 2011 IFSC Climbing World Championships, the 11th edition, were held in Arco, Italy from 15 to 24 July 2011.
The 2007 IFSC Climbing World Championships, the 9th edition, were held in Aviles, Spain from 17 to 23 September 2007. It was the first Climbing World Championships organized by the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC).
The 2019 season of the IFSC Climbing World Cup was the 21st season of the competition. Bouldering competitions were held at six stops of the IFSC Climbing World Cup. The bouldering season began on April 5 at the World Cup in Meiringen, and concluded on June 8 with the World Cup in Vail. At each stop a qualifying was held on the first day of the competition, and the semi-final and final rounds were conducted on the second day of the competition. The winners were awarded trophies, and the best three finishers received medals. At the end of the season an overall ranking was determined based upon points, which athletes were awarded for finishing in the top 30 of each individual event.
The 2019 IFSC Climbing World Cup was held in 12 locations. Bouldering, lead and speed competitions were each held in 6 locations. The season began on 5 April in Meiringen, Switzerland with the first bouldering competition in the season, and concluded on 27 October in Inzai, Japan, with the last lead climbing competition in the season.
Futaba Ito is a Japanese professional rock climber, sport climber and boulderer. She participates in both bouldering and lead climbing competitions. She won the IFSC Climbing Asian Youth Championships in lead and bouldering events in 2016, as well as Bouldering Japan Cup in 2017. She participated in combined and speed events at the 2018 Asian Games.
The 2019 IFSC Climbing World Championships, the 16th edition, were held in Hachioji, Japan from 11 to 21 August 2019. The championships consisted of lead, speed, bouldering, and combined events. The paraclimbing event was held separately from 16 to 17 July in Briançon, France. The combined event also served as an Olympic qualifying event for the 2020 Summer Olympics.
The 2021 season of the IFSC Climbing World Cup was the 22st season of the competition. Bouldering competitions will be held at six stops of the IFSC Climbing World Cup. The bouldering season began on April 16 at the World Cup in Meiringen, and concluded on 26 June with the World Cup in Innsbruck. The International Federation of Sport Climbing had initially scheduled six bouldering events concluding on 24 October, but COVID-19 travel restrictions resulted in the cancellation of events in Wujiang in China and Seoul in South Korea.
Speed climbing competitions at the 2019 IFSC Climbing World Cup were held at six locations, from 12 April to 20 October 2019. The top three in each competition received medals, and at the end of the season, the overall winners were awarded trophies. The overall winners were determined based upon points, which athletes were awarded for finishing in the top 30 of each individual event. Bassa Mawem won the men's seasonal title, YiLing Song won the women's seasonal title, and Russian Federation defended its national team title.
Xining, Qinghai, China
