The IFSC Paraclimbing World Championships are the biennial world championships for competition climbing for people with disabilities organized by the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC). This event determines the male and female world champions in various categories.
The first event was organized in Arco in 2011, held together with the IFSC Climbing World Championships.
| Edition | Year | Location | Date(s) | Disciplines | Athletes | Nations | Website | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lead | Speed | ||||||||
| 1 | 2011 |  Arco | 18–19 July | X | X | [1] | |||
| 2 | 2012 |  Paris | 12–16 September | X | [2] [3] | ||||
| 3 | 2014 |  Gijón | 11–14 September | X | [4] [5] | ||||
| 4 | 2016 | Paris | 14–18 September | X | [6] [7] [8] | ||||
| 5 | 2018 |  Innsbruck | 10–16 September | X | [9] [10] | ||||
| 6 | 2019 | Briançon [11] | 16–17 July | X | [12] | ||||
| 7 | 2021 |  Moscow [13] | 15–17 September | X | |||||
| 8 | 2023 |  Bern | 1–12 August | X | |||||
| 9 | 2025 |  Seoul | |||||||
A wide range of different people take part in Paraclimbing, including visually impaired climbers, climbers with limb differences [14] and those with brain injuries or mobility impairments. [15] [16] Higher numbers equate to higher functionality (less impairment), lower numbers equate to lower functionality (more impairment). [17]
| Category | Criteria | Example image | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visual impairment | B1 | Visual acuity is poorer than LogMAR 2.60 (blindness) |  |
| B2 | LogMAR of 1.50 − 2.60 and/or visual field of less than 10° | ||
| B3 | LogMAR of 1 − 1.40 (20/200 − 20/500 on the Snellen chart) and/or visual field of less than 40° | ||
| Upper limb(s) | AU2 | One upper limb has reduced function below the athletes elbow and does not have a functional wrist joint |  |
| AU3 | One hand or multiple digits across both hands are absent or have reduced function | ||
| Lower limb(s) | AL1 | Significantly reduced functional use for climbing or absence of bilateral lower limbs |  |
| AL2 | Impairment in a single lower limb or leg length difference | ||
| Range and power | RP1 | Impairment across all eligible impairment types with severe impairment to function affecting at least 2 limbs or a single upper limb is absent or has severely limited functional use |  |
| RP2 | Impairment across all eligible impairment types with moderate impairment to function affecting the trunk and/or limbs | ||
| RP3 | Impairment across all eligible impairment types with mild impairment to function affecting the trunk and/or limbs | ||
In the 2022-2023 season AU1 was permanently combined with RP1, and a new category of upper arm limb difference was added. AU3 is the designated sport class for athletes with limb differences between the wrist and tips of the fingers. With a minimum impairment of a loss of 6 finger joints across both hands. Prior to the creation of this sport class many AU3 athletes classified in RP3.
If there is an insufficient number of competitors in a given category, this category can be merged into another, 'harder' category. In world championships at least six athletes from four countries must compete in each category. Merges may be performed sequentially until the required number of competitors is met. [18]
| Year | Category | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 [20] | Amputee Arm PD | Mikhail Saparov | - | - |
| Amputee Both Leg PD |  Boyu Xia | - | - | |
| Amputee Leg PD | Urko Carmona Barandiaran |  Günther Grausam | Oliviero Bellinzani | |
| Arthritis+Neurological PD |  András Szijártó | Matteo Alberghini | Philippe Ribière | |
| Complete Neurological Leg Disability PD | Sebastian Richter | - | - | |
| Visual Impairment B1 | Matteo Stefani | Manuel Cepero Gutierrez | Roman Kostyakov | |
| Visual Impairment B2 | Simone Salvagnin | Oliviero Bellinzani | - | |
| Visual Impairment B3 | Domingo Carretero Campon | Ricardo Pérez Amado | - |
| Year | Category | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 [21] | Amputee Arm PD | Mikhail Saparov | - | - |
| Amputee Both Leg PD | Boyu Xia | - | - | |
| Amputee Leg PD |  Mineo Ono | Urko Carmona Barandiaran | Alexander Biermann | |
| Arthritis+Neurological PD | András Szijártó | Matteo Masento | Alessio Cornamusini | |
| Complete Neurological Leg Disability PD | Sebastian Richter | - | - | |
| Visual Impairment B1 | Matteo Stefani | Manuel Cepero Gutierrez | Roman Kostyakov | |
| Visual Impairment B2 | Koichiro Kobayashi | Masayoshi Idomoto | Simone Salvagnin | |
| Visual Impairment B3 | Ricardo Pérez Amado | Domingo Carretero Campon | - | |
| 2012 | Amputee Leg PD | Urko Carmona Barandiaran | Mineo Ono |  Craig Demartino |
| Arthritis+Neurological PD1 |  Manikandan Kumar |  Raphael Nishimura | Mathieu Besnard | |
| Visual Impairment B1 | Nicolas Moineau | Kenji Iwamoto | Matteo Stefani | |
| Visual Impairment B2 | Sho Aita | Koichiro Kobayashi | Simone Salvagnin | |
| 2014 | Amputee Leg PD | Urko Carmona Barandiaran | Ronald Dickson | Craig Demartino |
| Visual Impairment B1 | Koichiro Kobayashi | Nicolas Moineau | Matteo Stefani | |
| Neurological Physical Disability A | Mathieu Besnard | Manikandan Kumar |  Behnam Khalaji | |
| Neurological Physical Disability B | András Szijártó | Alessio Cornamusini | Serge Laurencin | |
| 2016 | B1 | Koichiro Kobayashi | Nicolas Moineau | Matteo Stefani |
| B2 | Sho Aita | Mathieu Barbe | Simone Salvagnin | |
| AL-2 | Albert Guardia Ferrer | Julien Gasc | Iván Germán Pascual | |
| RP1 | Korbinian Franck | Nils Helsper | Connor King | |
| RP2 |  Nive Porat | Alessio Cornamusini | Vladimir Netsvetaev-Dolgalev | |
| RP3 | Romain Pagnoux | Mathieu Besnard |  Gregor Selak | |
| 2018 | AU-2 |  Matthew Phillips | Trevor Smith | Maksim Maiorov |
| B1 | Koichiro Kobayashi | Matteo Stefani | Francisco Javier Aguilar Amoedo | |
| B2 | Justin Salas | Raul Simon Franco | Fumiya Hamanoue | |
| AL-2 | Thierry Delarue | Urko Carmona Barandiaran | Albert Guardia Ferrer | |
| RP1 | Alessio Cornamusini | Korbinian Franck | Nils Helsper | |
| RP2 | Behnam Khalaji | Nive Porat | Manikandan Kumar | |
| RP3 | Romain Pagnoux | Michael Cleverdon | Gregor Selak | |
| 2019 | AU-2 | Matthew Phillips | Mor Michael Sapir | Kevin Bartke |
| B1 | Koichiro Kobayashi | Francisco Javier Aguilar Amoedo | Daniil Lisichenko | |
| B2 | Sho Aita | Justin Salas | Richard Slocock | |
| B3 |  Cosmin Florin Candoi | Lux Losey Sail | Motohiro Ejiri | |
| AL-2 | Thierry Delarue | Urko Carmona Barandiaran | Albert Guardia Ferrer | |
| RP1 | Bastien Thomas | Alessio Cornamusini | Korbinian Franck | |
| RP2 | Behnam Khalaji | Benjamin Mayforth | Manikandan Kumar | |
| RP3 | Romain Pagnoux | Mathieu Besnard | Gregor Selak | |
| 2021 [22] | B1 | Sho Aita | Razvan Nedu | Jesse Dufton |
| B2 | Fumiya Hamanoue | Richard Slocock | Raul Simon Franco | |
| RP1 | Angelino Zeller | Tanner Cislaw | Korbinian Franck | |
| RP2 | Mor Michael Sapir | Benjamin Mayforth | Bastien Thomas | |
| RP3 | Romain Pagnoux | Mathieu Besnard | Iman Edrisi | |
| AL1 | Thierry Delarue |  Frederik Leys | Shuhei Yuki | |
| AU2 | Matthew Phillips | Brian Zarzuela | Kevin Bartke | |
| 2023 | B1 | Sho Aita | Francisco Javier Aguilar Amoedo | Răzvan Nedu |
| B2 | Fumiya Hamanoue | Richard Slocock | Guillermo Pelegrín Gómez | |
| B3 | Cosmin Florin Candoi | Kazuhiro Minowada | Lux Losey Sail | |
| AL1 | Angelino Zeller | Markus Pösendorfer | Tanner Cislaw | |
| AL2 | Thierry Delarue | Ethan Zilz | Albert Guardia Ferrer | |
| AU2 |  Isak Ripman | Kevin Bartke | Brian Zarzuela | |
| AU3 | Mor Michael Sapir | Nobuhiro Yusaraoka | Dominic Geisseler | |
| RP1 | Aloïs Pottier | Elliott Nguyen | Takuya Okada | |
| RP2 | Mor Michael Sapir | Benjamin Mayforth | Bastien Thomas | |
| RP3 | Iván Muñoz Escolar | Benjamin Mayforth | Manikandan Kumar |
| Year | Category | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 [20] | Amputee Arm PD | Paula De la Calle Pizarro | - | - |
| Arthritis+Neurological PD |  Valentyna Kurshakova | - | - | |
| Visual Impairment B1 | Silvia Parente | Dilyara Rakhmankulova | - | |
| Visual Impairment B2 | Tatiana Panova | - | - |
| Year | Category | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 [21] | Amputee Arm PD | Paula De la Calle Pizarro | - | - |
| Arthritis+Neurological PD | Valentyna Kurshakova | - | - | |
| Visual Impairment B1 | Dilyara Rakhmankulova | Silvia Parente | - | |
| Visual Impairment B2 | Tatiana Panova | - | - | |
| 2012 | Visual Impairment | Dilyara Rakhmankulova | Silvia Parente | Giulia Poggioli |
| Physical Disability | Frances Brown | Silvia Giacobbo Dal Prà | Valentyna Kurshakova | |
| 2014 | Amputee Leg PD | Christa Brelsford |  Kate Sawford | Esme Harte |
| Visual Impairment B2 | Alessia Refolo | Tanja Glusic | Giulia Poggioli | |
| Neurological Physical Disability A | Elodie Orbaen | Tiziana Paolini | Oriane Moreno | |
| 2016 | AU-2 | Maureen Beck | Melinda Vigh | Lucia Capovilla |
| AL-2 | Lucie Jarrige | Kate Sawford | Esme Harte | |
| RP3 | Elodie Orbaen | Oriane Moreno | Aika Yoshida | |
| 2018 | AU-2 | Solenne Piret | Melinda Vigh | Maureen Beck |
| B2 | Abigail Robinson | Whiteny Pesek | Tanja Glusic | |
| AL-2 | Lucie Jarrige | Kate Sawford | Emily Stephenson | |
| RP2 | Hannah Baldwin | Marlene Prat | Anita Aggarwal | |
| RP3 | Aika Yoshida | Momoko Yoshida | Elodie Orbaen | |
| 2019 | AU-2 | Solenne Piret | Maureen Beck | Melinda Vigh |
| B2 | Abigail Robinson | Yumi Ejiri | Edith Scheinecker | |
| AL-2 | Lucie Jarrige | Joanna Newton | Jaqueline Fritz | |
| RP2 | Hannah Baldwin | Anita Aggarwal | Leanora Volpe | |
| RP3 | Aika Yoshida | Momoko Yoshida | Martha Evans | |
| 2021 | B2 | Abigail Robinson | Edith Scheinecker | Nadia Bredice |
| B3 | Ionela Grecu | Tanja Glusic |  Sunita Dhondappanavar | |
| RP1 | Pavitra Vandenhoven |  Eva Mol | Marta Peche Salinero | |
| RP2 | Solenne Piret | Leanora Volpe | Lucia Capovilla | |
| RP3 | Lucie Jarrige | Martha Evans | Katharina Ritt | |
| 2023 | B1 | in B2 | ||
| B2 | Abigail Robinson | Seneida Biendarra | Edith Scheinecker | |
| B3 | Sunita Dhondappanavar | Mika Maeoka | Yumi Ejiri | |
| AL1 | in RP1 | |||
| AL2 | Lucie Jarrige |  Sarah Larcombe | Rachel Maia | |
| AU2 | Solenne Piret | Lucia Capovilla | Maureen Beck | |
| AU3 | in RP3 | |||
| RP1 | Pavitra Vandenhoven | Melissa Ruiz | Marta Peche Salinero | |
| RP2 | Dina Eivik | Jasmin Plank | Anna Devries | |
| RP3 | Marina Dias | Christiane Luttikhuizen | Martha Evans | |
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