The list of Appointments of Chief Routesetters for the IFSC 2010 Competition Calendar is now available online.

Check the CRS Appointments List 2010

The list of Appointments of Jury Presidents and Judges for the IFSC 2010 Competitions is now available online.

Check the Appointments List 2010

Deadlines and application form for 2011 and onwards IFSC calendar are available online at:

Dates and deadlines

The IFSC Executive Board has approved the 2010 Registered Testing Pool which has been broadened to include 30 athletes.

The athletes have been selected according to the following criteria:

1. Top four athletes from the World Ranking (source: http://www.ifsc-climbing.org)
2. Top four athletes from the World Cup Ranking
3. Top athletes from the Overall Ranking

The full list of the IFSC RTP and details of the selection criteria ca be viewed on the following page: http://www.ifsc-climbing.org/?page_name=ado-documents

The registrations for the IFSC Plenary Assembly that will take place in Bali, Indonesia, on February 27th, 2010, are now open.

All the details to register and book your accommodation can be found on the IFSC website dedicated page PA 2010.

Looking forward to seeing you in Bali!

On December 3rd, Jacques Rogge, the President of the IOC, welcomed IFSC President Marco Scolaris, IFSC Athletes' Commission President Muriel Sarkany, and the IFSC Sport Manager, Jerome Meyer.

The IFSC delegation presented our sport to the IOC President.

Scolaris offered to President Rogge a special climbing hold, purposely produced by IFSC partner "Smog", with the IFSC logo, and a pair of climbing shoes, a unique piece offered by IFSC partner "Scarpa".

At the end of the meeting, Muriel, former World Champion in Lead and still competing, commented: "Honestly I'd have never believed that this could happen sometime. Being welcomed by the head of the Olympic family gives dignity to our sport and to us climbers".

Jerome, current European Champion in Boulder, who retired at the end of 2008 and now works for the IFSC as Sport Manager, said: "I always believed that my sport, our sport has a lot to offer. Being here today gives additional motivation to make it grow".

Scolaris concluded: "Muriel is right. There is a sort of deep emotion being here: this is a great day for all our community, the outcome of a growth that has produced young athletes and champions, but also a new valuable sport  for the today's world".
 

We are now publishing the reports produced by the Commissions gathered in Barcelona. Such reports have been the main element on which the Executive Board focused to take the decisions announced yesterday; the propositions contained in some of the reports will be specifically dealt with by the Sport Department in the next period.

See the list of the Reports

The 2009 European Youth Champions are:

Charlotte DURIF (France) and Gauthier SUPPER (France) in junior, Hélène JANICOT (France) and Alexander MEGOS (Germany) in youth A, Katharina POSCH (Austria) and Domen SKOFIC (Slovenia) in youth B

Kranj was the last event of the season for the European Youth Series, the moment for the European Council of Sport Climbing to award the European young climbers after five competitions. The competition in Kranj: 

Hannah Mitboe  (Norway) was the best in junior female, Charlotte Durif couldn’t go higher than her in the final. Jacob Shubert (Austria) easily reached the top of the juniors’ male route, he said during the qualifications: “I’m here for the first place”, that’s done!

As the juniors’ female a movement was too hard for most of youth A female, but Hélène Janicot clipped the last quick draw. It was very close for the three first youth A male but Alexander Megos (Germany) crimped the hold that Jure Raztresen (Slovenia) and Max Rudigier just touch (Austria). Katharina Posch reached the top of the youth B female final. Sebastian Halenke (Germany) didn’t manage to clip the last carabiner  and fell down with the last hold in his hand but it was enough to win.

The routes were adapted to the young climbers, the organization, as usual, was perfect. Thanks to Slovenian federation and Tomo Cesen's Team.

Now it is time for a rest for the National Teams before starting the coming season 2010.

(Damien You, ECSC VP Sport)

The Executive Board of the IFSC has set the deadline for submitting the candidatures to the post of IFSC Secretary General, now vacant. All candidatures must be sent to the IFSC Office within December 31st, 2009. 

Candidatures must be submitted by the relevant National Federation, together with a CV of the candidate. No late candidatures will be accepted.

The candidates' profiles will be reviewd by the EB and submitted to the IFSC Plenary Assembly for a vote on February 27th, 2010, in Bali. Contact the Office for any information on proxy votes.

Several crucial issues were confronted during the Annual Commissions Meeting, to which the high number of participants gave a great vitality. But let's give a closer look to the main decisions that the IFSC Executive Board took after the Commissions made their propositions.

Calendar: the biggest change is that the EB decided to shift the World Championship to even years after the WCH in Arco (2011); as a consequence, the following WCH will take place in 2012, and from then on in 2014, 2016 etc.

2011: Arco

2012: candidatures can be submitted until 20 January 2010

The main purpose is not to hold the IFSC World Championship in the same year of the World Games, the main event of the IFSC calendar after the WCH, and to give thus more breath to the athletes as well.

General Calendar Deadlines:

2011 WC applications: 30 April 2010

2012 WCH application: 20 January 2010

2013 WYCH applications: 20 January 2011

WCH Disciplines

Combined Ranking will be maintained as it is until 2014, when - prior to testing in 2010 - the Combined Ranking medal will be converted into a medal event.

Starting from 2011, Team Speed relay will be a medal event.

Prize money

There will be no changes in Lead, Boulder and classic Speed.

Team Speed Relay - medals only, no prize money.

Combined Ranking:

In WCH 2011, 2012, 2014: prize money to 1,2,3

In WCH 2016 and onwards: money to 1 to 6

For all the details of the decisions taken, you can see the complete Summary of the ACM 2009.

The Annual Commissions Meeting 2009 closed on Sunday, November 22, with a general feeling of success, due partly to the many fruitful discussions and interactions during the meeting days, and partly to the impeccable hosting of FEDME and the accurate organization of Lluis Giner, who had left nothing to chance.

The ACM in Barcelona attracted Commission Members from 23 countries, for a total of almost 50 people, not including the IFSC Executive Board. Six Commissions gathered in the Catalan city: Rules and Events (who had a pre-meeting on Friday 20), Officials, Medical, Team Managers (with some new members), Paraclimbing and Athletes, who split to be present one in each Commission.

On Sunday morning, each Commission presented its report to the Board and Commission members, offering to the IFSC Executive Board its proposals for the discussion that happend later. The closing of the ACM was followed infact by a further Board Meeting, whose decisions will be published soon, together with the reports by the Commissions documents and list of participants.

The IFSC wishes to thank all those who joined in the ACM, with the hope that this year's enthusiasm will draw as many people to Kiev - ACM 2010 - the next year.

Mina Markovic winns the competition and Johann Ernst take after 2008 also the lead World Cup Trohpy 2009 with her. Akiyo Noguchi was the best over the year in the overall ranking.

The best Team of the year 2009 was Austria.

A long saison ends for the adults, as usual, with the competition in Kranj. Next week the Youth will come to Kranj for the European Youth Serie.

Live on slovenian TV and in front of more then 1.700 visitors all finalist climbed very high. Close to the Top the decission was done and only Adam Ondra could reach the last hold of the route. With this perfect run he winns the Lead Competition in Kranj, the Lead World Cup 2009 and the Overall World Cup 2009.

 73 men and 37 women started in the Lead World Cup in Kranj. 30 competitors more than 2008. On Saturday 14th qualifikation flash on 2 routes  and the semifinal happens. The leader of the lead world cup take their chance and reached the final.

Adam Ondra finished all rounds untill now on the Top. The same for Johanna Ernst and Jain Kim in women category.

This evening, sunday 15th, at 5pm the final men and at 6.15 pm womens final start.  The final also will be presented in the slovenian TV live.

In a week, FEDME will host in Barcelona the Annual Commissions Meeting. The details of the meeting, which will be preceded by the meeting of the IFSC Executive Board, are available at the ACM page on the IFSC website, together with the Agendas of the Commissions. More than 50 participants have already registered for an event that marks, as always, an important moment in the IFSC life; technical problems as well as calendar issues, rules and procedures will be discussed. The reports of the works will be available soon after the meeting on the IFSC website

In Brno, thanks to an impeccable performance over the three rounds, Jain Kim (KOR) prevails on Maja Vidmar (SLO) and Mina Markovic (SLO). In the men, Austrian teen Jakob Schubert wins, while Patxi Usobiaga (ESP) is second, and local hero Tomas Mrazek (CZE) third.

Now, the two World Cup leaders, Joahanna Ernst (5th in Brno) and Adam Ondra (11th) feel the breath of the followers, Maja Vidmar and Patxi Usobiaga, who have a chance to catch them.

In one week the game will be over, after the classic last event in Kranj, Slovenia.

About 800 spectators watched the semifinal on saturday morning. At 5 pm there will be the final round. The results can be followed on www.ifsc-climbing.org, a live webcast can be seen on  www.czechclimbing.com.

The women will start with 11 finalists, last starter being Jain Kim from Korea the only one topping the semifinal route. The mens final will be without Adam Ondra who fell, trough a second of lack of attention, too early on the route. But Tomas Mrazek from Czech Republic will fascinate the public as well. All other favourites are qualified, so a high-class and exciting final can be expected.

After several years of participation in the IFSC community both as an active athlete running for the podium and as the President of the Athletes Commission in the Executive Board. Jerôme MEYER, current bouldering European Champion, joins the IFSC staff as Sport Manager, replacing Paolo Orione. 

The European Youth Series circuit nears to the end with the competition that took place in Kaliningrad, Russia, on the last week end. In the Lead male categories, Youth A was won by Alexander Megos (GER), Youth B by Domen Skofic from Slovenia and Juniors by Fabrice Landry (FRA). The female podium in Youth A was won by Alexandra Ladurner (ITA), Youth B by Katharina Posch from Austria and Juniors by the French Charlotte Durif. In the Speed male category, Youth A winner was Bogdan Posmashnyy (RUS), Youth B winner was Sergey Lutzgetskiy (RUS) and Juniors winner was Arseniy Shevchenko, again from Russia. The female Speed winners were Dinara Fakhritdinova in Youth A, Elizaveta Shatalova in Youth B and Alina Gaydamakina in Juniors, all from the Russian team.

The last event of the European Youth Series will take place in Kranj, Slovenia, on November 21 and 22.

More than 2000 representatives of the Olympic Family (IOC, National Olympic Committees-NOCs, International Olympic and Recognised Federations-IFs) from all over the world attended the XIII Olympic Congress in Copenhagen, October 3-5  (the XII Congress took place in Paris, in 1994).

The IFSC President Marco Scolaris commented that "the three day meeting offered the opportunity to the Olympic Family to analyse its today role and presence in the society, in the perspective of a future rapidly changing and of its challenges.
The final document, called "The Olympic Movement in Society" contains 66 considerations and recommendations intended to strengthen the sport and its values, that the Olympic Movement represents and vehicles throughout the world".

"Personally - Scolaris added - I appreciated the attention given to the athletes and to the young generations. A sign that we are moving in the right direction.
Finally, the presence and the interventions of high profile leaders are a recognition of the social role the sport is playing - hopefully more and more - in our society".

Read the full document Olympic Congress Recommendations

 Over 100 athletes competed in the 2009 IFSC Oceania Championship, which was combined with the 2009 Australian national championships. It was held at a new venue for the event, in Port Macquarie, 5 hours north of Sydney at the Centre of Gravity.

In the annual event, the teams competition was dominated by Australia, capturing the title from the small New Zealand contingent. 

Barcelona, Spain, will host the 2009 Annual Commissions' Meeting, organized by FEDME.

All the information on the programme, the venue and the accommodation can be consulted online at the following link:

http://www.ifsc-climbing.org/?page_name=ACM

For all those who wanted to see it but couldn't be there, and for all those who were there but would like to see it again, the online video will prove truly entertaining (and good quality, too).

Check it out at the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sgwrIT60Ds

The 2011 IFSC World Championship will open in Arco on July 15th, closing on July 24th. The date change was asked by the organizers to avoid clashes with the World Cup in Chamonix, and has been approved by the Executive Board on Friday, September 18th.

The logo and the mascotte of the World Championship were presented in Arco on the evening preceding the Rock Master; in the town of Arco, the count down has already begun on the display set in the main square.

Anthony Seah, from Singapore, has been appointed today as Director of the IFSC Events Commission, where he was so far involved only as a member. The candidature was proposed to the IFSC Executive Board last week by the Commission itself, and approved with a vote today. Good work Anthony!

Overall results

Dyno

Paraclimbing

Speed Relay

With a message to all the International Federations that took part in the World Games, Co Koren, Secretary General of the IWGA, has informed the concerned Federations of the outcome of the anti-doping tests taken in Kaohsiung during the 2009 edition of the World Games.

The IFSC is pleased to make puiblic that there have been no IFSC athletes with positive results. Thanks to all National Federation for their efforts aimed at the prevention of doping, and thanks to the athletes for climbing hard and "playing true".

The Belgian Wim Verhoeven has been appointed Director of the IFSC Rules Commission, after the stepping down of Ake Nilssonn. The Rules Commission had proposed Wim Verhoeven, formerly Secretary of the Commission, as new director, and Rutger Elink Schuurman from Netherland as Secretary, and the IFSC Executive Board has approved today the proposal. The IFSC thanks Ake Nilsson for his great involvement and his fundamental support in the development and implementation of the IFSC competition rules, and also thanks Wim Verhoeven for taking over this important task.

Exciting competition as ever in Arco, where the countdown has already started for the IFSC Climbing World Championship 2011. Ramon Puigblanque seized his victory in the after work lead route, after having topped - together with his teammate Patxi Usobiaga - the on sight of the previous day. On the podium behind him, the Austrian David Lama and the Czech Adam Ondra. Angela Eiter conquered the public - and the victory - with her smile and determination on the after work route, where she went well ahead of the Slovenian Mina Markovic and of the amazing Korean Kim Ja In, respectively second and third.  

The duel provided just as much excitement, and some surprises on the podium: the men's heat was won by the Swiss Cedric Lachat who touched the top less than one second before his young and fast rival Adam Ondra, whit Ramon Puigblanque third. Kim Ja In climbed with style and precision despite the speed and gained the duel ahead of Mina Markovic and Angela Eiter.

Austria got to the top also in the men's bouldering thanks to the great performance of Kilian Fischhuber, with Jonas Baumann (GER) and Gabriele Moroni (ITA) respectively second and third, while the women's competition was won by the French Alisee Dufraisse after a strenous fight against Chloe Graftiaux (BEL) and Anna Stohr (AUT),  second and third.The Polish Edyta Ropek confirmed here in Arco her mastery of speed, while Libor Hroza (CZE) was the fastes in the men's race.

Arco welcomed the competition with a huge public, a great organizationa and a live TV broadcast which is just a hint of what will be done for the World Championship 2011, which was presented to the media and the public on Friday night, together with the mascotte. Looking forward to it!

 Speed Climbing Finals provided thrills and heart pounding excitement to the spectacular crowds viewing the youth speed World Championships in the heart of beautiful Valence France today. Spectators cheered local French team favorites, and the challengers to the solid and amazingly fast Russian team, as well as speed climbers from Venezuela, Italy, Poland, Ecuador, Kazakstan, Ukraine, Germany, Canada, Suisse, Slovenia, Hungary, Czech Republic and the US.

It was exciting to watch the head to head races up the 15 meter standardized speed climbing wall. Spectators could easily see the winning time and often added to the spirit of the event by loudly cheering for certain climbers. This exciting climbing event is becoming vastly popular.

Among competitors from 39 countries who competed over the 4 day Youth World Championships. Times were unbelievably fast.  Winners for the Male and Female categories were:

Male Junior-Sergey Abdrakhmanov (Russia) with an unbelievably fast time, Male A-Leonardo Gontero (Italy) who brought home the first Speed Gold Medal for Italy, Nikita Suyushkin (Russia) who had redemption after not being able to compete in the Youth World Championship Lead finals.

Female Junior-Alina Gaydamokina (Russia) who flew up the wall, Female A - Dinara Fakhritdinova (Russia) who looked both graceful and fast as she won against her fellow Russian team member, and Female B-Aleksandra Rudinska (Poland) who won Gold for an obviously well trained and fast Polish team.

Team awards were also presented during the closing Speed ceremony. Team winners were:

Gold          Russia

Silver        Austria

Bronze     France

We congratulate all climbers who competed in the IFSC 2009 Youth World Championships. Please see www.ifsc-climbing.org/results for more details.

Following a fantastic presentation, the IFSC Youth World Championships in Valence, France Saturday evening, August 29th showcased the best of the best youth lead sport climbers in the world. 39 countries competed during a 3 day competition.

Three different categories competed, three for the males and three for the females. The Valence Polygon was completely full with a reported 7,000 spectators for during the competition. France and Austria were strong overall teams.

Brilliant route-setting enabled the climbers to show their talents throught the competition. Finals winners for the women were: Junior (France) Charlotte Durif (also a 5 time World Champion), Female A-(Suisse) Katherine Choong and Female B-Katharina Posch (Austria).

It was also a strong showing the the male categories. Winners for the youth males, Junior-Jakob Schubert (Austria), Male A-Adam Ondra (Czech Republic) and Male B-Sebastian Halenke (Germany)

In the first two days of the XVII Youth World Championship in Valence, France, more than 700 starters completed the qualification rounds in both Lead and Speed.

Lead semifinals and finals are scheduled for today, tomorrow Speed final rounds.

All the event is on line live at:  http://www.mineral-spirit.fr/competition/videos.html

Stay with us and enjoy our spiderkids climbing

Good news from Austria, for climbers and fans.
For all who did not have the possibility to watch the Finals Live, we have arranged with sporttime.tv an extra broadcasting time, with the highlights of the IFSC Climbing World Cup, as follows:
Thursday, August 27    8:00 pm
Monday, August 31      8:00 pm
(about 30-45 minutes)

The videos of the winners (Ernst, Ondra)  of the IFSC Climbing World Cup Imst are also online now
http://www.sporttime.tv/Climbing-pid388 

A few days to go for the Youth World Championship, in Valence, France.
Never so many competitors and countries represented: it will be a celebration of the youth, the sport and climbing. The event can be followed live at:

http://www.mineral-spirit.fr/competition/videos.html

Both the male and female finals were flashed by two climbers. The male competition started the evenings proceedings in front of over 500 spectators in the climbing hall at Imst, Austria.

An early high point by Sean McColl (CAN) and Sachi Amma (JPN) left little doubt that the route would be flashed later in the competition. And reigning World Champion Patxi Usobiaga Lakunza (ESP) did not dissapoint, completing the route with ease, The pressure then moved to the remaining athletes, and while Austrian Jakob Schubert did not perform to his earlier rounds efforts, favourite Adam Ondra (CZE) performed for the vocal crowd with an outstanding top-out, never looking troubled.

If the crowd was vocal for the male competition the noise reached a peak when Angela Eiter (AUT) completed the route mid way through the round. With the climbers dropping before the roof section, it was left to favourites Maja Vidmar (SLO) and Johanna Ernst (AUT) to flash the route and win on countback. Vidmar never looked comfortable and fell to place her in fifth position. The World Champion Ernst (16), was outstandingly carm and relaxed, making short work of the route.

The evenings results leave Adam Ondra with a commanding lead in the mens series. The womens series is close with Johanna Ernst (AUT) having just a five point lead over Angela Eiter.

The next event in the 2009 Climbing World Cup series is on 26-27.09.2009 in Puurs(BEL).  Focus for the climbing world however will now move to Valence (FRA) for the biggest event on the calendar the 2009 IFSC World Youth Climbing Championships - 27-30,08,2009.

Full results can be found under the IFSC Results Page

 The third lead climbing world cup of 2009 is looking to be a tense battle with Maya Vidmar (SLO), Johanna Ernst (AUT) and Angela Eiter(AUT)  looking to fight out the right to the womens crown. The winner of the battle will likely take the lead in the 2009 World Cup Climbing Series.

The male competition is perhaps more defined, with Adam Ondra(CZE) dominating the field during the semi-final round. His sensational top-out placed him as a firm favourite ahead of his closest rival Jakob Shubert (AUT). But with world-champion and world cup series leader Patxi Usobiaga Lakunza (ESP) in the final eight nothing can be certain for the young Ondra.

Live streaming is available for the finals from www.sporttime.tv and live results for the males and females from the IFSC results service.

The final round for the males starts at 1900 (GMT+1) with the femals following at 2030 (GMT+1) on Saturday 22.08.2009

An early strong showing by Sasha Digiulian (USA) is the early high-point on the female climb. But at the first cleaning break Alizée Dufraisse (FRA) lead the females and Jorg Verhoeven (NED) lead the male route that had yet to have anyone move further through than half height.

As the semi-final progressed, there were two clear cruxes on the routes that took a toll on some competitors. But the sensational Adam Ondra (CZE) showed more of the form that took him to the title in Barcelona (ESP) two weeks previously in the 2nd IFSC Climbing World Cup event. At the age of sixteen Ondra also leads the 2009 World Cup series competition. In his current mood it will take a strong effort from the remaining seven finalists to take any points off him.

The female climb was a long route with a crux coming out onto the headwall. It was this section that sapped the energy of many of the climbers. With the 2009 World Cup series leader Natalija Gros failing to make the final selection of eight, it will be left to on form and second placed in the series - Maya Vidmar (SLO) who flashed the semi-final route to battle for the lead from her closest rivals including local heros Johanna Ernst (AUT) and Angela Eiter (AUT). 

Live streaming is available for the finals from www.sporttime.tv and live results for the males and females from the IFSC results service.

The final round starts at 1900 (GMT+1) on Saturday 22.08.2009

 Some excellent routes created by the routesetting team led by Carles Brasco, Daniel Andrada and Andy Knabl created some good results for both the male and female category that were held in the flash-format.

With sixteen top-outs in the female category the challenge will be on in tomorrow mornings semi-final to qualify for the evening final. Current leader Natalija Gros (SLO) will be looking to extend her series lead.

The male category ended with fewer top-outs (12) will still  be a tense battle, with the world cup series currently tied between Adam Ondra (CZE) and Patxi Usobiaga Lakunza (ESP).

Full results can be found from the first qualification round on the results service.

The semi-final will start 22.08.09 at 10.00 (GMT+1). Live streaming is available from www.sporttime.tv 

IFSC is pleased to inform that the ÖWK has organised a professional Live-Broadcast Production for the Semi-Finals and Finals for the IFSC LWC in Imst on Saturday, 22. August 2009.

 The Live-Broadcast for the Semi-Finals starts on Saturday, 22. August 2009 at 10 am for the Finals the Broadcast will start at 6.15 pm on www.sporttime.tv. The Live-Broadcast will be attended by a Live-Comment.

The announcement for the Live-Broadcast will be soon on sporttime.tv

 The TV-Production Company – SPORTTIME ®  –  offers to all TV-Stations (any countries) free footage without restrictions for TV. With sending the attached Order form to SPORTTIME ®, the TV-Stations will get the login details for receiving desired footage.

 If any federations are interested in DVD’s or free footage from the IFSC LWC in Imst, they just need to contact the ÖWK (Austrian Climbing Federation) via mail.

 Looking forward to a successful Competition in Imst.