
Paraclimbing Returns to Briançon
Sport climbing continues to grow in popularity around the world and this year, the IFSC Paraclimbing World Championship will feature a record number of participants with 167 athletes registered to attend, 70 of whom will be participating in their first IFSC competition. The event will take place from July 16 to 17 at Parc des Sports in Briançon, France where elite athletes from 24 countries will take on the lead wall.
A number of gold medalists from the Innsbruck Paraclimbing World Championship 2018 are expected to return to defend their titles. Leg amputee Lucie JARRIGE (FRA), a two-time AL-2 Paraclimbing World Champion, is aiming to claim her third title in front of her home crowd. Her compatriot, Thierry DELARUE is sure to be another crowd favorite in the men’s leg amputee category. Top athletes from Great Britain, Abigail ROBINSON, Hannah BALDWIN and Matthew PHILLIPS are aiming to continue their own winning streaks after placing first in Innsbruck and last year’s Briançon Paraclimbing World Cup, in the visual impairment (B2), limited range, power and stability (RP2) and forearm amputee (AU-2) categories respectively.
The final category count and athlete classifications will be determined on Monday, July 15 prior to the start of qualifications.
The IFSC is in the process of creating a new Paraclimbing Committee to more broadly represent the paraclimbing community. During qualifications at the upcoming World Championship, athletes will be able to vote for their new athlete representatives, the first step toward the creation of the new committee. The current candidates are Fedde BENEDICTUS (NED), Gregor SELAK (SLO), Mohsen POURGHASEM (IRI), Sebastian DEPKE (GER), Jessica SPORTE (USA) and Rachel MĀIA (NZL).
Watch LIVE
The finals for each category will be streamed LIVE on the IFSC website on July 16 and 17, and qualifications will be covered in highlight videos. The full schedule, complete starter list and results can be found on the event page.
Join the chat on Twitter with the hashtag #IFSCwch.