A climbing competition is usually held indoors on purpose built climbing walls. There are three main types of climbing competition: lead, speed, and bouldering. In lead climbing, the competitors start at the bottom of a route and must climb it within a certain time frame in a single attempt, making sure to clip the rope into pre-placed quickdraws along the route. Bouldering competitions consist of climbing short problems without rope, with the emphasis on number of problems completed and the attempts necessary to do so. Speed climbing can either be an individual or team event, with the person or team that can climb a standardized route the fastest winning.
Sean McColl is a professional rock climber from North Vancouver, Canada. He competes in the lead climbing, speed climbing, and bouldering disciplines, and has won major competitions in all three.
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)
Anna Stöhr is a professional climber. She is a champion in bouldering climbing competitions. She won four Bouldering World Cups, in 2008, 2011, 2012 and 2013 and two World Championships, in 2007 and 2011. Notably, she dominated the 2013 Bouldering World Cup series, by winning seven events out of eight, losing one just by one attempt to Juliane Wurm.
Dmitri Sarafutdinov, also known as Dmitrii Sharafutdinov, is a professional Russian rock climber specializing in bouldering climbing competitions. He has won three World Championships, in 2007, 2011 and 2012 and one Bouldering World Cup in 2013.
Mina Markovič is a retired professional climber. She was mainly active in climbing competitions and participated in the World Cup and World Championships in lead climbing, bouldering and speed climbing, obtaining her best results in lead climbing.
The IFSC Climbing European Championships are the biennial European championship for competition climbing organized by the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC). The first competition was held in Frankfurt in 1992.
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.
Artimes Farshad Yeganeh is an Iranian rock climber who has been climbing for 30 years of experiences as a professional climber, members of Iran sport climbing National Team for many years, as route setter in many national, continental and world cups and championships, and head coach of Iran Sport Climbing National Team for 6 years. He also participates in sport climbing and bouldering competitions and is one of the most famous Iranian climbers.
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.
South African National Climbing Federation(SANCF) is the governing body for sport climbing, involving lead climbing, bouldering and speed climbing in South Africa. SANCF oversees competitive climbing across the country as well as the promotion and development of the sport in artificial climbing environments. SANCF is affiliated to the world body International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) with full member status, and SASCOC.
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 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 IFSC Climbing Asian Championships or Asian Sport Climbing Championships are annual Asian championships for competition climbing organized by the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC). Until 2006, it was called UIAA Asian Championships. Then, from 2007 onwards it was called IFSC Asian Championships. In 2001, the first Bouldering Championship was held separately from 19 to 20 December 2001 in Yung Ho, Taiwan. In 2018, at the Asian Championships in Kurayoshi, Japan, a combined format was introduced.
The IFSC Climbing World Youth Championships are the annual World Youth Championships for competition climbing organized by the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC). The first competition was held in Basel, Switzerland in 1992. Bouldering was introduced at the 2015 World Youth Championships in Arco, Italy. There are three age groups:
Petra Klingler is a Swiss competition rock climber. Known as a versatile climber, she competes in bouldering and speed, lead, and ice climbing. It is historically rare for a climber to compete in so many different disciplines, especially ice climbing, although the combined format of the Tokyo Olympics has made it more common. Klingler was encouraged by her former coach to try ice climbing for fun, and as a way to build mental discipline.
The 2021 IFSC Climbing World Cup was the 33rd edition of the international sport climbing competition series, held in seven locations. There are 11 events: four bouldering, five lead, and two speed events. The season began on 16 April in Meiringen, Switzerland with the first bouldering competition in the season, and concluded on 4 September in Kranj, Slovenia. The International Federation of Sport Climbing had initially scheduled 18 events concluding on 31 October, but COVID-19 travel restrictions resulted in the cancellation of events in Xiamen and Wujiang in China, Jakarta in Indonesia and Seoul in South Korea.
Sport climbing competitions at the 2024 Summer Olympics are scheduled to run from 5 to 10 August at Le Bourget Sport Climbing Venue in Saint-Denis, returning to the program for the second time since the sport's official debut three years earlier in Tokyo 2020. The total number of medal events will double from two in the previous edition, separating the boulder-and-lead tandem from the speed format. Furthermore, Paris 2024 will witness a significant rise in the number of sport climbers competing contrary to Tokyo 2020, expanding the roster size from 40 to 68.
