Welcome to Behind The Wall, a weekly newsletter published every Saturday.
Each week, I highlight the favourite things I’ve watched, read and listened to from the world of indoor and competition climbing. I also track where you can buy competition tickets during the World Cup season.
I spent quite a bit of time catching up on podcasts this week, including Niki and Jake’s new setting-focused Podcasts, the start of Climbing Gold’s Olympic series, which is really good, and the inside view of Speed Climbing from Budapest. We got some belated but good analysis of the climbing in Innsbruck, more information on the Olympic Bouldering Wall, and how some Olympic climbers fuel their training sessions.
I know there is lots of great content that I don’t know about. Let me know at behindthewall@inside-climbing.com, and I’ll give you a shout-out if I feature it.
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Watch
- IFSC Worldcup Report 2024 - Innsbruck Female Lead Final | Beta Routesetting. Niki analyses performances on the Female Lead route in Innsbruck and the differences in pacing between Mori and Garnbret.
- Innsbruck Boulder/Lead World Cup Report | Plastic Weekly. Tyler Norton reviews the Innsbruck World Cup, including his conflicting feelings about Ai Mori’s performance on the first semi-final boulder, a rare boulder podium sweep for Team Japan, and the rise of new stars and another Graph section.
- Garrett Gregor, Paris 2024 head routesetter, talks about the Titan Wall | EP Climbing. EP climbing talk with Paris Bouldering head route setter Garret Gregor about the design of the Titan Olympic Bouldering Wall, how it differs from the Tokyo Bouldering Wall, and the future he sees for having a standardised competition Bouldering Wall.
- We try Speed Climbing for the First Time with Emma Hunt | Tension Climbing. Tension Climbing go Speed Climbing with Emma Hunt. First, Emma shows them some of the off-the-speed wall work she does on a board, including speed bouldering. Then, they try Speed Climbing on the official route.
- China route setting Trip 2024 Part 2: AG Boulderfest in Ningbo, China | Beta Routesetting. Niki and Jake set boulders for the AG Boulderfest competition in Ningbo, China. Learn about their experience setting for the competition, the growth of climbing in China and how the competition went.
Read
- What Can Regular Climbers Learn From the Eating Habits of Olympians? | Climbing Magazine. Marisa Michael talks with Piper Kelly, Emma Hunt, Samuel Watson, Natalia Grossman and Jesse Grupper, all 2024 Olympians from the USA, about what they eat during training and competitions.
Listen
- World Cup Rambles and Olympic Realizations | The Circle Up Podacat. Kyra Condie and Allison Vest talk about the Budapest OQS and the Innsbruck World Cup, including Kyra’s experience in Budapest and the terrible coverage in Innsbruck.
- Budapest OQS | 20 Holds Speed Climbing Podcast. Peter Schnabel and Albert Ok talk about the Budapest OQS event: the crowd, the conditions, the celebration, and the tears.
- Jake Mason (Bouldering Bobat and GB Routesetter) and Niki Wiechmann (Professional Routesetter) started a new podcast about routesetting, growing as a route setter, freelancing and selecting colours for the gym. The first two episodes are up now.
- Jenya Kazbekova Olympian for Ukraine | Climbing Gold. Climbing Gold interviewed Jenya Kazbekova about how she feels about the war in Ukraine and how representing her country on the world stage is her way of fighting for her country.
International Climbing Competition Tickets
The competition season has started, so here is the rundown of where you can find World Cup and OQS tickets.
- Chamonix (France) Lead and Speed World Cup July 12 – 14. The event will be free to attend. There are VIP tickets on offer.
- Briançon (France) Lead and Speed World Cup July 16 – 19. The event will be free to attend and tickets are not needed.
- Olympic Ticket resale platform. Some tickets for the Olympics are coming up through the official resale platform.
- European Championship in Villars (Switzerland) August 23 – September 1. The event will be free to attend and tickets are not needed.
- Koper (Slovenia) September 6 – 7. Tickets for the semi-final and final will be available for pre-sale from July 8th – August 24th at the Koper 2024 World Cup site.
- Prague (Czechia) World Cup September 20 – 22. VIP tickets are sold out, and seated tickets are almost sold out, but standing tickets are still available
- Seoul World Cup October 2 – 6. Tickets are yet to be announced.
That’s a Wrap
I hope you enjoyed this edition of Behind the Wall. Let me know what you think at behindthewall@insideclimbing.com or DM me on Instagram.
See you next week!
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