President Scolaris welcomed all to the meeting with an appreciation for the dedication and hard work of the Executive Board and IFSC staff in the ongoing journey towards Tokyo 2020, labelling Sport Climbing as an up and coming Urban Sport.

Proceedings commenced with a review of the IFSC’s Governance and Statutes, continuing with a vote from the Board on a series of proposed amendments to be finalised during the Plenary Assembly in March 2019. Director of Marketing & Communications Anne Fuynel then offered insight into marketing contractual changes entering 2019, before the Administration department reported on the IFSC’s GDPR assessment and President Scolaris and the Board discussed Human Resource matters and the provisional budget for 2019. Following this, the Administration department informed the congress of preparations for the 2019 Plenary Assembly in Tokyo, raising ideas for workshops and timings of the meeting. The upcoming Plenary Assembly will ratify the membership of Fiji, the latest Continental Member of the IFSC which was acknowledged during the Executive Board Meeting.

An additional Plenary Assembly, to be held in August 2019 during the IFSC World Championship, was considered by the Executive Board. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session will decide in June which sports are to be included in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and whatever the decision, the Executive Board believes that a further Plenary Assembly would be recommendable to meet with the National Federations and develop a strategic plan for the years to come.

Head of Olympic Coordination Jérôme Meyer addressed plans for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and the future of our sport, also giving an overview of the 2018 Youth Olympic Games which took place in Buenos Aires.

A unanimous approval was obtained by the Board for the Athletes’ Rights and Responsibilities Declaration, which aims to guide the actions of the Olympic Movement.

The Sport department continued with an outline of the upcoming IFSC Official Sport Equipment Catalogue, focusing on the Holds, Macros and Volumes category, as well as proposing potential changes to the format and competition rules of Sport Climbing. A report was then presented by the Event Working Group detailing the format and athlete quota for IFSC Youth World Championships moving forward, then the Executive Board also discussed the athlete quota for the World Championships. The meeting came to a close following updates on Multi-sport Games (e.g. the World Urban Games and ANOC Beach Games), the IFSC Athletes Commission and future proposals and meetings.

The next Executive Board Meeting, to be held as a teleconference, will take place on Friday 11th January.

A summary of the Board’s decisions around the Combined Format, Olympic Qualifying Event, YWCH Format, World Cup Format and the 2019 World Championships can be found here.