Ice Climbing Discussion Thread

[Olympian1010 7,973]

[Olympian1010 7,973]

Well, I found some sad news from the UIAA today. 
 

“There will now be four World Cups, not five. North American World Cup(s) are now scheduled for 2020-2021. Consequently, there will also be no North American Championship. The Ice Climbing showcase scheduled for the 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne has been cancelled.”

 

This season was set to be the biggest, and best ice climbing season of all time. There would 3 continents visited on the world tour and 3 continental championships for the first time. However, it appears the UIAA has had to downsize the season . The good news is that it looks the US West Coast will still get its event. Hopefully I’ll be able to attend in 2020 or 2021. It’s also official that Ice Clombing will not be a demo sport at the 2020 YOG . However, the UIAA are putting in a major effort (at least from what I’ve heard and seen in the media and on their website) to get Ice Climbing into the 2026 Winter Olympics I believe. I really hope the IOC give us natural track luge and ice climbing in 2026.

[heywoodu 15,141]

So there is just a tiny World Cup series, having three continental championships would have been unique, it being a demo sport in the Youth Olympics has been cancelled....yet they want to be included in the Olympics within a handful of years? No way, that is way too early. Get everything in order first..

[Olympian1010 7,973]

8 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

So there is just a tiny World Cup series, having three continental championships would have been unique, it being a demo sport in the Youth Olympics has been cancelled....yet they want to be included in the Olympics within a handful of years? No way, that is way too early. Get everything in order first..

That’s thing, everything was in order. I don’t know what happened behind the scenes. It isn’t good, because the organization seems to have a roadblock.

 

There’s also a 5/6 stop European Tour, so there’s actually 12 elite events (counting the Asian Championships too) this season (or at least there is supposed to be).  would have legitimate medal hopes in this sport currently (not to mention US, RUS, FIN, FRA, SUI, KOR, CHN)

 

Also, the record World Cup attendance for this sport is 40k spectators. It would definitely deserve an Olympic spot. The World Cup is been established since 2002, the events have good television coverage, and there’s a good mix of competitive nations (though  and  killed everyone last year). I really don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes. I hope that it doesn’t kill the chances of Ice Climbing going Olympic soon. This is such a unique sport, with a lot heritage and history. Plus, it’s very different from anything currently on the program.

[Dunadan 1,103]

Russia (and in part Korea) have been killing the competition for a while by the looks of it, not only last year : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UIAA_Ice_Climbing_World_Cup

[heywoodu 15,141]

Just now, Dunadan said:

Russia (and in part Korea) have been killing the competition for a while by the looks of it, not only last year : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UIAA_Ice_Climbing_World_Cup

But I've just been told we have legitimate medal hopes...  

[phelps 7,675]

9 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

But I've just been told we have legitimate medal hopes...  

 

 

looking at this year's results, other than KOR and RUS, the only Countries with legitimate chances are FRA, SUI and IRL, with IRI having an outside chance among the men...

 

https://www.theuiaa.org/ice-climbing-resultscentre/

 

p.s. at least, UIAA's website looks very well organized...

 

by the way, as Italy's star Angelika Rainer is not even competing anymore, I don't see any reason why Milano-Cortina 2026 should push for this new sport to be added in the Olympic schedule (apart from having the event on the most amazing landscape in the world on the Dolomites)...

 

on the other hand, it's absolutely necessary that they do whatever it takes to push for Natural Track Luge for national interests...

[Olympian1010 7,973]

I wished I would have checked the website last week, since I missed the European Championships. It seems like there was less climbers than normal due to Covid. Here’s the podiums though:

 

Men’s Lead -

Gold:  Louna Ladevant TOP 

Silver:  Nikolai Kuzovlev TOP

Bronze:  Tristan Ladevant 19.330

Nikolay Primerov  was the only other non-FRA/RUS finalist and he finished 4th.  were the only countries not to make the finals.

 

Men’s Speed - 

Gold:  Danila Bikulov

Silver:  Anton Nemov 

Bronze:  Vladislav Iurlov

Best non-Russian finisher was Nikolay Primerov  in 13th.

 

Women’s Lead - 

Gold:  Maria Tolokonina 17.280

Silver:  Sina Goetz 16.250

Bronze:  Ekaterina Valsova 12.210

Enni Bertling  (4th), Marion Thomas  (5th), Aneta Louzecka  (6th) were the other non-RUS/SUI finalists.  was the only country not to qualify for the finals.

 

Women’s Speed - 

Gold:  Maria Tolokonina

Silver:  Irina Dubovtseva

Bronze:  Valeriia Bogdan

The best of the rest was Aneta Louzecka  in 4th.

 

 

[bmo 194]

Did not know Ice Climbing was a thing. You learn something new every day

[Olympian1010 7,973]

5 minutes ago, bmo said:

Did not know Ice Climbing was a thing. You learn something new every day

It’s awesome. Highly recommend watching replays from past World Cups.