Sports Bulletin

Islamabad (Sports Desk): Italy’s Marco Scolaris has been elected as IFSC President to lead the organisation for the next four years, continuing the role he has held since the IFSC’s inception in 2007. Scolaris won a vote ahead of candidate Tijl Smitz of Belgium to head a new Executive Board that was also voted for at the XXII IFSC General Assembly in Larnaca, Cyprus.Gaining a 57.83% majority, Scolaris’ campaign and manifesto was built on a focus of athlete’s well-being and resources, growing Para Climbing and further strengthening Climbing’s position in the Olympic sphere, and shaping the event calendar at the IFSC and National Federation level. The election ensures continuity for the federation that was founded in 2007, with Scolaris the first, and currently only, President of the organisation and a founder of the IFSC.The new make-up of the IFSC Executive Board will see Australia’s Naomi Cleary, France’s Pierre You, Japan’s Toru Kobinata and USA’s Anne-Worley Moelter as Vice-President’s following the assembly election vote. They will join athlete representatives Shauna Coxsey and Sean McColl who will remain on the board until their replacements are named at an election among the athletes in September of this year.Cleary, Toru and You were all previously on the Executive Board and will continue for the next four years. Other candidates who ran for Vice-President were Netherlands’ Joachim Driessen and Czechia’s Jan Bloudek.The IFSC Executive Board also includes members representing the continents with South Africa’s Christopher Naude representing Africa, China’s Li Guowei representing Asia, Germany’s Burghilda Beste representing Europe, New Zealand’s Stephane David representing Oceania, and Puerto Rico’s Rene Sepulveda representing Pan America.Singapore’s Anthony Seah also ran for the Asia representative position, with Li elected ahead of him. The former IFSC Executive Board’s final order of business was to preside over the appointment of the Disciplinary and Ethics Commissions for the 2025-2029 term.Dagmawit Berhane, John Bowen, Patti Rube and Lorenzo Vigasio make up the Ethics Commission with Deana Labriola, Ursa Pirc, Achille Reali and Loic Timmermans forming the Disciplinary Commission. Both were voted on by the General Assembly. Both Commissions still have one vacant position which will be filled in due course. Coming to the end of her term as General Secretary, USA’s Debra Gawrych was proposed as an IFSC Honorary Member with the General Assembly unanimously confirming the proposal.Closing remarks were made by IFSC President Scolaris and President of the Cyprus Mountaineering & Climbing Federation Pavlos Georgiades, the host of the XXII General Assembly.The 2026 IFSC General Assembly is set to be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia with Yasmin Gahtani presenting a proposal from her federation to host to the delegates, and subsequently being confirmed by vote.

Islamabad (Sports Desk): The IFSC Speed World Cup Klagenfurt 2025 which had been set to take place in July has been removed from the 2025 calendar. Due to sponsor withdrawal, organisers ACTS Sportveranstaltungen GmbH are now unable to host with absolute certainty and the event has been removed from the upcoming World Cup Series of events. Set to be the sixth and final Speed World Cup competition of the 2025 season, the IFSC is now working tirelessly for an alternative venue and city to host the event. Initial talks with ACTS Sportveranstaltungen GmbH were to include a Speed World Cup as part of a multisport event where the IFSC has enjoyed previous success, but the desire to host a standalone Climbing event meant the inclusion of the south Austrian city on the 2025 calendar.Now however, the IFSC has removed the event and will look to find an appropriate replacement with ACTS Sportveranstaltungen GmbH unable to fulfil the IFSC World Cup hosting criteria. The removal does not affect the IFSC World Cup Innsbruck 2025 – which includes Boulder, Lead and Para Climbing – that is set for June and organised by Austria Climbing.

Torino (Italy): The International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) announced that the Spanish capital of Madrid will host a Lead World Cup on 18 and 19 July 2025. The event will take place at Recinto Ferial Las Rozas, and entry will be free of charge, allowing more fans to experience the excitement of world-class Climbing up close. Spain has a storied record of Climbing events, having hosted IFSC World Cups in Barcelona in 2009 and 2011, as well as the Lead, Speed, and Para Climbing World Championships in Gijon in 2014.Spanish athletes have also achieved remarkable success on the world stage, with Alberto Ginés López making history as the first-ever male Olympic champion in Sport Climbing at Tokyo 2020. Speed specialist Leslie Adriana Romero Pérez joined Ginés López at Paris 2024, where the head of state King Felipe VI also attended Climbing competitions and cheered on Spanish climbers.Earlier this year, the city of Madrid already proved its enthusiasm for the sport, successfully organising a test event that introduced a new four-lane Speed format – Madrid 4 Speed. The IFSC World Cup Madrid 2025 is part of an exciting Lead season that also includes stops in Wujiang, China, Indonesia, Innsbruck, Austria, Chamonix, France, and Koper, Slovenia.IFSC President Marco Scolaris said: “With the IFSC World Cup Series heading to Madrid, we reach another capital. Madrid is a city with a deep appreciation for sport and an ever-growing Climbing community. By offering free entry to the event, we will inspire more people to discover the excitement of Climbing and support the athletes. A World Cup event in Madrid confirms the commitment of Spain and the Spanish Climbing Federation to our sport and its development.”José María Nasarre Sarmiento, President of the Provisional Board of the Spanish Climbing Federation, siad: “In our Federation, we are delighted to return to the top tier of Climbing events and to do so in an unbeatable location, such as the city of Madrid. For this occasion, we will rely on all the resources and infrastructures to make the World Cup a great event at the height of the circumstances, with Climbing present in two editions of the Olympic Games and our sight set on LA28. Our efforts will be directed at providing a great experience to all the athletes, teams, and stakeholders, including the IFSC itself, which has once again placed its trust in us. It will be an honour for Spain to host a Climbing World Cup event in 2025.”

Sports Bulletin ReportTorino (Italy): The ninth stop of the IFSC World Cup Series 2025 will bring the fastest climbers in the world, including Paris 2024 women’s Speed champion Aleksandra Miroslaw and bronze medallist Aleksandra Kalucka, to the Polish capital of Krakow.The event, which will take place on the weekend of 5 and 6 July, will mark the return of an IFSC World Cup to Poland for the first time in 16 years and the third overall after two Speed World Cups were held in Tarnów in 2007 and 2009. More recently, Climbing was featured in the programme of two multi-sport events organised in Polish territory: The World Games 2017 in Wrocław and the European Games 2023 in Krakow and Małopolska.IFSC President Marco Scolaris said in his message: “We are more than happy to welcome Poland back on our World Cup calendar next July. We have beautiful memories of events in Poland from The World Games 2017 and European Games 2023. To bring the Climbing family to Krakow, such a famous, historical, monumental city, is really exciting. What a great way to celebrate Aleksandra Miroslaw, your Olympic champion, and the whole Polish team, who has performed excellently in Speed for many seasons.”Following the spectacular debut of Speed as a standalone discipline at the Paris Olympics, a field of top-class speedsters led by Miroslaw and Kalucka is expected to compete in Krakow next July: Natalia Kalucka – Aleksandra’s twin sister; women's Speed silver medallist at Paris 2024, Deng Lijuan of China; men’s Speed Olympic champion Veddriq Leonardo of Indonesia; current men’s world record holder Sam Watson of the USA; and the reigning world champions in the discipline – Desak Made Rita Kusuma Dewi of Indonesia and Matteo Zurloni of Italy.

Sports Bulletin ReportTorino (Italy): National Federations worldwide connected with the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) for the third edition of the Climbing Summit.Aiming to inform and update its participants, the III IFSC Climbing Summit was held virtually and moderated by longtime IFSC collaborator Peter Stafford. IFSC President Marco Scolaris was joined by the Executive Board in Torino, Italy, to cover several key topics.After the Summit opened and attendees were greeted by President Scolaris, the focus turned to the Olympic Games, with Secretary General Debra Gawrych road mapping the journey both to the Games and in relation to the IFSC Strategic Plan 2020-2028.Governance came into focus through IFSC Oceania President Naomi Cleary, who brought the conversation to the Climbing family after Francesco Ricci Bitti – President of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations ­– addressed the National Federations.With LA28 set to feature Para Climbing, IFSC Treasurer Pierre You spoke of the newly-added sport with former International Paralympic Committee Commercial & Marketing Director Alexis Schäfer also connected to present on the future ahead of the sport.A cornerstone of IFSC activities, Athletes’ Health was once again brought to the attention of the Summit and member Federations, this time through Olympian and Athletes’ Commission member Alannah Yip and Medical & Anti-Doping Commission chair Naama Constantini.IFSC Vice-President Wolfgang Wabel spoke of the Sustainability plans for the future before attention turned back to the Olympic Games.Tokyo 2020 reflections were shared by IFSC Vice President Kobinata Toru and former Tokyo 2020 Sports Director Murofushi Koji, while Paris 2024 Sport Manager for Sport Climbing Vincent Caussé brought things up to the present. Also introduced by Mr Caussé was a video message from the President of the Organising Committee of Paris 2024, Tony Estanguet.The future vision was then shared by Niccolò Campriani and Jack Smith, respectively LA28 Sports Director and Sport Group Manager, before final remarks from President Scolaris drew the Summit to a close.“Getting close to the end of an unforgettable year, 2024,” said President Scolaris. “I wish we all could realise that we have climbed to the largest stage, and we are now visible to the entire world. This was and is a necessary step to translate into reality our strategic plan, our mission, inspired by our vision.”

Sports Bulletin ReportTorino (Italy): The four-year cycle leading up to the Paralympic Games LA28 will kick-off with an action-packed Para Climbing season 2025, which will include World Cup events in the USA, Austria, and France, also featuring the Para Climbing World Championships in Seoul, South Korea. Scheduled to take place from 20 to 21 May in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, the Para Climbing season opener will take place shortly before the fourth Climbing World Cup.It will be the fifth consecutive season with a Para Climbing World Cup event in US territory. Initially held in Los Angeles, California, in October 2021, the event has then moved to Salt Lake City for the three following years, and the number of registered athletes has grown by 157% in three years. Another landmark in the Para Climbing calendar is the World Cup in Innsbruck, Austria.Set to happen on 23 and 24 June, the event has set the record for the highest number of registered athletes in 2024, breaking the 200-climber mark for the first time in the history of the Para Climbing World Cup Series. The most anticipated event of 2024 will see the best para climbers in the world travel to Seoul, South Korea, for the first-ever Para Climbing World Championships taking place outside of Europe.The final Para Climbing event of 2025 is scheduled in Laval, France, where a third World Cup is expected to take place in late October. Dates of Para Climbing competitions in Seoul and Laval will be made official at a later stage.

Sports Bulletin Report Seoul (South Korea): The final IFSC World Cup event of the year takes place in Seoul, South Korea with a crowd of 1500 spectators cheering on the Boulder athletes at the Kangnam Sports Climbing Centre. Not only were there World Cup medals up for grabs but also 2024 Series titles and honours to be won.MEN'S BOULDERSouth Korea’s LEE Dohyun wins gold in his homeland – the third win of his career and the second gold in a row after Prague at the last eventRollercoaster competition for Lee – topped qualification by a large margin, just made final with the last attempt of the semi-finals, wins goldTwo tops and four zones just enough to win ahead of silver medallist, Maximillian MILNE (GBR)Milne takes first World Cup silver since Brixen (ITA) 2022 Milne also with two tops and four zones, but more attempts to the zone than winner LeeAMAGASA Sohta (JPN) takes bronze with four zones – the second World Cup medal of his career after winning gold in Innsbruck earlier in the seasonDayan AHKTAR (GBR) finishes a personal best fourth – previous best was 15th5th – CHON Jongwon (KOR), 6th – NARASAKI Meichi (JPN)WOMEN'S BOULDERUSA’s Annie SANDERS wins her first Boulder World Cup gold medal in SeoulHer previous best result was bronze in Innsbruck earlier in the seasonWon with three tops and four zones, with a flash on the last boulder cementing her winAlso with three tops and four zones, and another personal best result, France’s Zélia AVEZOU wins silver – her previous best was fourthAnother personal best from Erin MCNEICE (GBR) who takes bronze with two tops and four zonesMcneice just the third British woman to podium at a Boulder World Cup after Shauna COXSEY and Claire BELLUSA’s Natalia GROSSMAN finished in fourth, Japan’s NONAKA Miho in fifth and France’s Agathe CALLIET in sixth – another personal best result after making her first World Cup finalOVERALL 2024 SERIES RANKING (MEN’S):Japan lockout the 2024 Series podiumANRAKU Sorato wins the overall title for the second year in a row – only the fourth male to win back-to-back titlesAnraku helped on way to title winning gold in Salt Lake City, USANARASAKI brothers join teammate Anraku on the podiumAlthough not winning a gold, Meichi takes second ahead of Tomoa who won the first event of the season in Keqiao, China 1. ANRAKU Sorato – 3365 points 2. NARASAKI Meichi – 2860 points3. NARASAKI Tomoa – 2690 pointsWOMENUSA’s Natalia Grossman wins the 2024 Boulder World Cup Series title for the fourth time – becoming the fourth woman to do so, but the first to win four in a rowGrossman won two World Cup golds during the seriesOceania MACKENZIE (AUS) won her first World Cup medal in Prague on her way to second overallNAKAMURA Mao (JPN) third with consistent results during the season 1. Natalia GROSSMAN – 2610 points2. Oceania MACKENZIE – 2405 points3. NAKAMURA Mao – 2262.5 points  

Sports Bulletin ReportPrague (Czechia): The men’s Boulder final at the IFSC World Cup Prague 2024 turned out to be a balanced, hard-fought battle that went down to the very last climber on the very last boulder. Lee Dohyun of South Korea, the gold medal winner at last year’s event in Prague, Czechia, won the second World Cup event of his young career on the very same stage where he took his first one. “I love Prague! I can’t believe I won again here, how can I explain my feelings? I’m just very happy! There were some tricky moves in the final, some boulders were complicated for me, but I did my best and it paid off,” said the 21-year-old Paris 2024 Olympian, who closed his final with two tops and four zones. As both boulders number two and three turned out to be impossible to top for all the six finalists, the zone secured by Lee on M3 in his 13th attempt was decisive in separating him from France’s Manuel Cornu. Indeed, the French experienced climber placed second with two tops and three zones, finally stepping back on an IFSC World Cup podium five years after his previous one – in Chongqing, China, in 2019. Cornu said: “It’s crazy, right? It definitely feels crazy. I don’t have a lot of words tonight. I’m back from a long difficult period. One year ago, here in Prague, the first words to my coach after the qualification round were ‘It’s over for me’. And now I’m here, on the podium. I didn’t think it was possible for both [Anraku] Sorato and [Narasaki] Tomoa to fall on the fourth boulder. So I was quite sure I was going to get fourth place. I was very surprised.” Paris 2024 champion Toby Roberts of Great Britain finished in third place and pocketed bronze with two tops and two zones. The men’s Boulder & Lead gold medallist at this year’s Olympics, Roberts was coming from the men’s Lead gold he won at the IFSC World Cup Koper 2024, earlier this month.Roberts said: “I am so psyched! It was a strange final, I never thought I could be on the podium, but I did not give up, I was able to put it together and find the top on the final boulder. I can’t quite believe I’m on the podium, but I am really happy.” Paris 2024 silver medal winner Anraku Sorato of Japan placed just outside of the medal positions, taking fourth place with one top and four zones. His more experienced teammate Narasaki Tomoa followed in fifth, also with one and four, while the crowd’s favourite Adam Ondra, climbing on home turf, concluded with one top and three zones. 

Sports Bulletin ReportGuiyang (China): Day eight of the IFSC Youth World Championships 2024 crowned new champions in both the Speed and Boulder disciplines in Guiyang, China. Japan added to their medal haul with another gold medal from Kayotani Ritsu in the men’s U20 Boulder and China increased their tally with yet another podium lock out, this time in the men’s U16 Speed.There will be gold medals heading back to Europe also as France’s Lily Abriat claimed gold in the women’s U20 Boulder and Italy’s Alice Marcelli took the top step of the women’s U16 Speed competition.BOULDER: Japan’s Kayotani Ritsu won gold at the 2022 and 2023 editions of the Youth Worlds, and he made it a three-peat by taking the men’s U20 Boulder title in Guiyang. Kayotani had looked strong throughout the final, but so had his rivals who all topped at least two boulders, but it was the fourth and final problem where the Japanese climber showed why he has so many gold medals in his cabinet. With none of the finalists even making the zone, Kayotani stepped up and took just two attempts to top the previous un-toppable boulder.In silver medal position was Germany’s Yannick Nagel who had flashed two of the three boulders up to the final one. Two attempts on the first boulder gave the German silver ahead of bronze medallist Slav Kirov of Bulgaria who took one more attempt on boulder three. France’s Kito Martini in fourth, Japan’s Tamiya Eito in fifth and Australia’s Dylan Parks in sixth all topped two boulders after making the men’s final.In the women’s competition, France’s Lily Abriat was the standout performer topping three boulders and making the zone in the other. Silver medallist Anastasiia Kobets topped two. Abriat flashed two of her boulders in her run to gold and upgraded her 2023 bronze medal from Seoul, South Korea. Ukraine’s Kobets leaves China with two silver medals following her Lead podium earlier on in the week and showing her all-round strength in the youth field.Germany’s Anna Maria Apel was one of only two, alongside Abriat, to make the zone on boulder one and flashed boulder two, despite not making the zones in either of the final two boulders, she held on for the bronze medal. Sarina Ghaffari of Iran was fourth going out on a high by topping the final boulder, Italy’s Francesca Matuella was fifth and Great Britain’s Emma Edwards was sixth.SPEED: In the U16 Speed competition there was yet another Chinese podium lock out, but unfortunately for the host nation Italy’s Alice Marcelli didn’t read the script and prevented the double-double. China won two golds in Speed on day seven taking both the men’s and women’s titles, but they couldn’t repeat the feat as Marcelli grew in confidence throughout the competition.Making it through to the final four, Marcelli beat Hong Kong’s Chen Sing Sen to set up a final with home favourite Wang Chunyouxuan who had beaten Thailand’s Ratchamon Thongbai in her semi-final. Both Marcelli and Wang slipped in the final race, but Marcelli overcame her rival with a 8.85s run compared to 10.21s. Beaten semi-finalist’s Thongbai and Chen faced off in the bronze medal match with the Thai climber coming out on top in a close race – 8.73s to 8.81s.Just like the U18’s, the Chinese U16 team scored their own podium lock out, this time in the men’s competition. Again three of the four finalists where from China so medals were always assured. Zhao Yicheng, Li Yang and Yu Zexuan had to battle USA’s Khoi Tran, and Li was the first to do so. He beat the American in the semi-final to put himself in with a shot of gold, and left Tran to fight for bronze.Zhao was to be the gold medal contender beating teammate Yu in the other semi-final, and he also went on to take the top step of the podium by beating Li 5.03s to 5.52s in the final race of the competition. Zhao had the gold, Li the silver. Yu joined his compatriots on the podium beating Tran 5.77s to 6.92s in the small final to take the bronze.

Sports Bulletin ReportGuiyang (China): Slovenia’s Jennifer Eucharia Buckley became a double 2024 Youth Worlds champion after taking the U18 Boulder title in Guiyang, China with Japan’s Nagamori Hareru adding yet another piece of silverware to his nations tally.With a certain Janja Garnbret seemingly monopolising the top step of a climbing podium, her country mate Buckley also dominated the competition with four tops in the final to add the Boulder title to the Lead title she won just a few days ago.Buckley has stood on an IFSC World Cup podium in 2024 when she won a silver medal, behind Garnbret, in Innsbruck, Austria and she has taken that experience into the 2024 Youth Worlds.After her win Buckley said: “I feel great. I achieved what my main goal of the year was. I think in the World Cup’s I went for a different reason; it was more of an experience and learning, but here I came with a mission and a goal, and I’m really content I could make it come true.”Japan’s Murakoshi Kaho took silver to make it a full set of Youth Worlds medals after taking gold in Seoul, South Korea in 2023 and bronze in Dallas, USA in 2022. Murakoshi made two tops and four zones for her second-place finish.Completing the podium was Spain’s Geila Macià Martín who took her second bronze of the event after also taking the same colour in the Lead. Macià Martín made one top and four zones.Japan’s Oda Natsumi was in fourth also making one top but only three zones. Great Britain’s Lucy Garlick was fifth and Israel’s Tamar Cohen was sixth.In the men’s competition Nagamori topped three boulders and made the zone in all four for his gold medal, and enjoyed himself in the process.Nagamori said: “I got the top on the first boulder, and I was feeling great, so I threw a kiss to the crowd. I got another top on boulder four but I was too focussed at that stage and I was just thinking about the climbing, I didn’t have any headspace to throw another kiss.” The Japanese climber hasn’t been working on Boulder as much, but nevertheless it didn’t show: “I have been focussing more on Lead climbing for this competition so to win the Boulder title is a bit of a shock for me. But I’m happy, just so happy.”South Korea’s Park Beomjin was in silver medal position with two tops and four zones and was ahead of bronze medallist Corentin Laporte of Belgium.Laporte had one top on boulder four and won his medal by just one attempt better than Thailand’s Auswin Aueareechit who also scored one top and three zones. Aueareechit’s top came on boulder one. Fifth place was China’s Hu Junzhe and Japan’s Hommyo Kei was in sixth.