Welcome to Behind the Wall, your weekly digest on what is happening in the climbing competition world. I am back this week after falling ill again (I am fed up with being ill).
We have the first IFSC European Continental Cups this weekend in Munich and Hong Kong. I take a look at the continental cup circuits in 2025 below the World Cup circuit, which only recent appeared in 2021.
I also recap the news over the last couple of weeks and share my favourite media.
As usual, I recap where you can buy tickets for upcoming international competitions and what competitions you can watch this weekend.
The 2025 Continental Cups
This weekend, the first IFSC Europe Continental Cup will be held in Munich (Germany) at the Olympic Park. This competition will be the first pure climbing competition Munich has hosted since 2019.
67 women and 94 men from 32 countries are registered for the event. 2024 Olympian Lucia Dörffel, who has been recovering from foot surgery, is registered to compete as part of a 16-strong German team. Olympic routesetter Olga Niemiec is the IFSC headsetter for the event alongside Jan Heiko, Mauro Schwatza, Manuel Wiegel, and Mathias Conrad.
Munich is the first of 10 European Continental Cups in 2025, 3 more than in 2024 (including the European Championship). There will be 3 Boulder cups, 3 Lead cups and 4 Speed cups. And they aren’t being held in small towns: after Munich, there are Boulder European Cups in Rome and Brussels.
| Date | Location | Country | Discipline |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 – 8 Mar | Munich | Germany | Boulder |
| 4 – 6 Apr | Rome | Italy | Boulder |
| 2 – 4 May | Brussels | Belgium | Boulder |
| 7 Jun | Mezzolombardo | Italy | Speed |
| 14 Jun | Zakopane | Poland | Speed |
| 21 – 22 Jun | Campitello di Fassa | Italy | Lead |
| 4 – 5 Jul | Ostermundigen | Switzerland | Lead |
| 17 Aug | St Pölten | Austria | Speed |
| 25 – 26 Oct | Laval | France | Speed |
| 30 Oct – 2 Nov | Toulouse | France | Lead |
Outside of Europe, there are only a small number of IFSC Continental events.
New Zealand hosted their first IFSC Oceania Cup in Mount Maunganui on 22 February. New Zealand previously hosted the Oceanian Championship back in 2008. Both New Zealand Paris Olympians, Julian David and Sarah Tetzlaff, won the event, setting new competition PBs.
The one Asian IFSC Continental Cup currently scheduled for 2025 is being held this weekend in Hong Kong. They are using the new Boulder format, including having 24 athletes in the semi-finals and 8 in the finals. The headsetter is Kim Donghyun, supported by Mei Nagasako and Wang Dingguo.
In the last couple of years, IFSC South American cups have been hosted in the last quarter of the year. There were two in 2023 and three in 2024. The first IFSC World Cup will be held this year in South America in Curitiba, Brazil. The South American cups for 2025 haven’t been announced yet.
In North America, USA Climbing and Climbing Escalade Canada created the North American Cup Series (NACS) back in 2021 as a continental series of events to prepare athletes for the IFSC World Cup circuit.
This year, there are 6 events, 4 in the USA and 2 in Canada. The US competitions have been streamed live on YouTube by USA Climbing.
| Date | Location | Country | Discipline |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 – 6 Apr | Greenville (South Carolina) | USA | Boulder |
| 12 – 13 Apr | Murfreesboro (Tennessee) | USA | Lead |
| 3 – 4 May | Montreal (Quebec) | Canada | Boulder |
| 5 – 7 Jun | Vail (Colorado) | USA | Boulder, Speed |
| 21 – 22 Jun | Edmonton (Alberta) | Canada | Lead, Speed |
| 23 – 24 Aug | Salt Lake City (Utah) | USA | Lead, Speed |
The USA will also host two IFSC World Cups in Salt Lake City (Boulder) and Denver (Speed) in 2025.
However, these adult Continental events have only appeared since 2021 after Sport Climbing’s debut at the Olympics in Tokyo. Before then, Continental events were rarities, often only being a Continental Championship.
While Europe and North America have the most developed programs, even these are fairly new with a small number of competitions (3 or less) per discipline. It will be exciting to see how these circuits continue to develop as the sport continues to professionalizes below the World Cup level.
News
- IFSC Oceania Speed Continental Cup and NZ Speed Championship Results
- Women: 1 – Sarah Tetzlaff (NZL), 2 –Abby Gebert (NZL), 3 – Jorja Rangi (NZL)
- Men: 1 – Julian David (NZL), 2 –Ned Johnston (NZL), 3 – Hayden Barton (AUS)
- Japan Lead Cup Results. You can re-watch the competition on YouTube.
- Women: 1 – Ai Mori, 2 – Mei Kotake, 3 – Natsumi Oda.
- Men: 1 – Sorato Anraku, 2 – Neo Suzuki, 3 – Shion Omata.
- Japan announced their Boulder Team for 2025. For both men and women, only one Paris Olympian is selected for the team through the Paris Olympic pathway. The team for 2025 will be
| Women | Pathway | Men | Pathway |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miho Nonaka | Paris Olympics | Tomoa Narasaki | Paris Olympics |
| Mao Nakamura | 2024 Boulder Top 10 | Sorato Anraku | 2024 Boulder Top 10 |
| Anon Matsufuji | 2024 Boulder Top 10 | Meichi Narasaki | 2024 Boulder Top 10 |
| Melody Sekikawa | BJC 2025 | Sohta Amagasa | 2024 Boulder Top 10 |
| Futaba Ito | BJC 2025 | Yuji Fujiwaki | BJC 2025 |
| Mashiro Kuzuu | BJC 2025 | Rei Sugimoto | BJC 2025 |
| Kaho Murakoshi | BJC 2025 | Yusuke Sugimoto | BJC 2025 |
| Ai Mori | BJC 2025 | Kento Yamaguchi | BJC 2025 |
| Manami Yama | BJC 2025 | Daiki Sano | BJC 2025 |
| Yui Suezawa | BJC 2025 | Keita Dohi | BJC 2025 |
| Miku Ishii | BJC 2025 | Rei Kawamata | BJC 2025 |
| - | - | Ritsu Kayotani | BJC 2025 |
Which ones go to the World Cup is a more complicated process, with Japan splitting their quota of 6 athletes across their team over the circuit.
- Aleksandra Miroslaw has been nominated for the Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year Award, the sporting equivalent of the Oscars. The 2025 edition marks the 25th anniversary of the Laureus World Sports Awards. It will be celebrated at an awards event in Madrid, Spain, on 21 April.
- Natalia Grossman announced that she had broken her ACL and is recovering from surgery.
- Jenya Kazbekova announced that she is pregnant.
- The IFSC announced new changes coming to the 2025 World Cup circuit. These include the standardisation of 24 athletes in the semi-final and 8 finalists across Boulder and Lead. They all announced the new point system that was used at the Boulder Japan Cup. We will dig into what these changes mean next week.
Media Recommendations
As usual, I share my 5 favourite pieces of media from the past couple of weeks.
Hannah Morris and Louis Parkinson reflect on what progressing in climbing means. They look at the different ways, including beyond grades, that Hannah has progressed in her climbing. Their reflections on the mental changes they both have experienced around climbing are really poignant and beautifully human.
Jack interviewed Jeremy Ho, who has been a routesetter across the US for over 20 years. Jeremy will be the Headsetter at US 2025 National Team Trials this month, and they will discuss how the competition setting has evolved and where it is going. They also discuss how to organise competitions routesetting teams and the growing professionalism of the sport.
Max “The Future” Milne shares his reflections on the 2025 British Boulder Championship and his mental state going into each boulder.
Jonathan Sin gets shown up on some dynamic boulders by Minoru Aoki, a 53-year-old Japanese climber. I hope to be able to climb with that amount of joy and freedom at 53!
Wedge Climbing shows how David Mason, Frances Bensley, Billy Ridal, and Nathan Phillips reset the spray wall at the School Rooms in Sheffield, UK.
Competition Tickets
- 7 –8th March Munich European Cup Tickets are on sale.
- 12 – 16th March USA National Team Trails Tickets are now available.
- 15 – 16th March Studio Block Masters 2025 Registration opens on 1 February.
- 22 – 23rd March CWIF 2025 Registration starts on 1 February, and spectator tickets go on sale on 10 March at noon.
- 23 – 29th June Innsbruck 2025 World Cup Tickets go on sale in early spring.
- 7 – 8th June Prague Boulder World Cup Tickets are on sale.
- 14 – 16th June Bern Boulder World Cup Tickets are on sale.
What to Watch?
The Munich IFSC Europe Cup and the Hong Kong IFSC Asian Cup are happening this weekend.
Munich IFSC Europe Cup
The Munich IFSC Europe Cup will be live-streamed (including qualifications) on the IFSC Europe YouTube channel apart from the final, which German national television ARD will exclusively broadcast.
All times are local times (UTC+1).
Friday, 7 March
09:50 – Men’s Boulder Qualification (YouTube)
17:20 – Women’s Boulder Qualification (YouTube)
Saturday, 8 March
13:00 – Boulder semi-finals (YouTube)
18:30 – Boulder finals (ARD)
Hong Kong IFSC Asia Cup
All times are local times (UTC+8). Streamed on HK Climbing Union's YouTube channel. Follow the event on instagram.
Saturday 8 March
10:00 – Women's Qualifications
15:00 – Men's Qualifications
Sunday 9 March
10:30 – Women's finals
14:00 – Men's finals
