The identification of the brand new UIAA world champions have been revealed throughout a spectacular weekend of mountaineering in downtown Edmonton.
Rising victorious have been athletes from three totally different international locations:
Woonseon Shin, South Korea in girls’s lead
Younggeon Lee, South Korea in males’s lead
Aneta Louzecka, Czech Republic in girls’s pace
Mohammadreza Safdarian, Iran in males’s pace
The competitors was the primary UIAA-sanctioned occasion to be held in Canada since 2002. Staged on a brand new, purpose-built 19mx27m construction close to the Edmonton Oilers hockey enviornment, the occasion draw hundreds of spectators to create an electrical ambiance. The organisers, YEG Ice Fest by the Alpine Membership of Canada Edmonton Part and supported by Discover Edmonton, put collectively a memorable competitors evoking reminiscences of the same city occasion held in Denver, Colorado in 2019.
In addition to crowning the biennial world champions, the occasion in Edmonton additionally acted as the ultimate World Cup of the season following competitions in South Korea and Switzerland. The winners of the World Tour (a league desk format) are revealed under.
The UIAA Ice Climbing World Tour is partnered by Outside Analysis.
Edmonton Preview: Lead/Issue
Winner of each World Cups so far. Prime athlete within the {qualifications} and semi-finals. Woonseon Shin’s full domination of the ladies’s World Tour lead self-discipline continued in Edmonton. In Canada she took not solely the World Tour seasonal rating however her fourth world championship title following successes in 2015, 2017 and 2019. Solely Petra Klingler’s victory in Saas-Payment in 2022 has stopped the South Korean from profitable 5 in a row. Though there was no present stopping topping of the Edmonton route, Shin was in a position to climb narrowly increased than the difficult Swiss athletes, Sina Goetz and Franziska Schönbächler who took silver and bronze.
It was a case of double pleasure for the Korean staff with Lee Younggeon profitable each the boys’s world championship title and the World Tour rankings within the course of. He wasn’t fairly as peerless as Shin having didn’t win in Saas-Payment, nevertheless as the one athlete to prime the route this weekend he rounded off an unimaginable season in type. With three seconds to spare he was in a position to make the decisive transfer to prime to the delight of hundreds of spectators and whereas shadowed by the town’s imperious skyscrapers. Keenan Griscom (above) turned the primary American athlete to make the World Championships podium taking silver. Aged simply 20, he has a really vivid future within the sport. Benjamin Bosshard took third to finish a superb weekend for the Swiss staff. Younggeon’s victory additionally meant that South Korea claimed the staff rankings.
Ladies’s World Tour standings:
1. Woonseon Shin (KOR), 2. Sina Goetz (SUI), 3.Marion Salmon-Thomas (FRA)
Ladies’s World Championships standings:
1. Woonseon Shin (KOR), 2. Sina Goetz (SUI), 3.Franziska Schönbächler (SUI)
Males’s World Tour standings:
1. Lee Younggeon (KOR), 2. Keenan Griscom (USA), 3. Virgile Devin (FRA)
Males’s World Championships standings:
1. Lee Younggeon (KOR), 2. Keenan Griscom (USA), 3. Benjamin Bosshard (SUI)
Last World Tour lead rankings
Livestream replay
Edmonton Preview: Pace
The pace competitors was duel format – athlete versus athlete. Every athlete had two runs up the pace wall, each left and proper. The climber with the quickest mixed rating gained the duel.
The boys’s competitors was billed as a head-to-head between Workforce Iran and Workforce Mongolia. Mongolian athletes had taken the 2 World Cups so far whereas an Iranian, Mohsen Beheshti Rad, sat second within the seasonal standings and went to Edmonton because the defending world champion. Nonetheless it was one other athlete from Iran who would declare the gold. In 2018 Mohammadreza Safdarian (above) turned the primary climber from the nation to win a UIAA gold medal when triumphing in Rabenstein, Italy. That was within the lead, a self-discipline Safdarian has extra ceaselessly excelled in.
In Edmonton, the one-day pace competitors was intense. The ultimate 4 whittled right down to Safdarian versus Kherlen Nyamdoo and for the bronze medal Beheshti Rad in opposition to Andreas Gantner of Liechtenstein. Profitable the primary duel put Safdarian within the driving seat and he managed any nerves to defeat the Mongolian athlete within the second climb to win by a margin of practically three seconds. It was the same hole between Beheshti Rad and Gantner with the Iranian profitable bronze. Workforce Mongolia was in a position to rejoice total World Tour victory with Chuluunbaatar Mandakhbayar profitable the collection regardless of an eighth place in Edmonton.
Aneta Louzecka (above) was the favorite for the feminine title have gained a gold and silver in her two World Cups and having loved a dominant continental season. And so it proved. The Czech athlete carried out impressively all through and stored her composure to supply a close to flawless show within the remaining to see off the problem from Lea Beck. Louzecka would additionally seal the World Tour title. Bronze went to Nyamdoo Selenge of Mongolia who took her first her medal to cap off a memorable season for the rising Mongolian staff.
Last Males’s World Tour standings:
1. Mandakhbayar Chuluunbaatar (MGL), 2. Mohammadreza Safdarian (IRN), 3. Mohsen Beheshti Rad (IRN)
Males’s World Championships standings:
1. Mohammadreza Safdarian (IRN), 2. Kherlen Nyamdoo (MGL), 3. Mohsen Beheshti Rad (IRN)
Last Ladies’s World Tour standings:
1. Aneta Louzecka (CZE), 2. Olga Kosek (POL), 3. Lorena Beck (LIE)
Ladies’s World Championships standings:
1. Aneta Louzecka (CZE), 2. Lea Beck (LIE), 3. Nyamdoo Selenge (MGL)
Last World Tour pace rankings
Livestream replay
Following the UIAA occasions, the construction will stay open as a part of an mountaineering competition – YEG Ice Fest – the place most of the people can take a look at their expertise and study extra concerning the sport. Additional particulars right here.
Mountain Voices Podcast: What’s Competitors Ice Climbing?
Wish to uncover extra concerning the UIAA Ice Climbing World Tour? Look no additional than the brand new UIAA podcast, Mountain Voices. Throughout every episode, specialists from the climbing and mountaineering world talk about points that affect climbers and mountaineers. Episode #1, obtainable on all main podcast platforms, addresses competitors mountaineering and options the contributions of Rob Adie, UIAA Sports activities Occasion Coordinator, in addition to athletes Gordon McArthur and Eimir McSwiggan.
Photographs (extra to be added) from the occasion can be found on the UIAA Flickr Channel
Outcomes from the World Championships can be found right here
Essential photograph: Lee Younggeon tops the route in Edmonton to take gold within the males’s lead competitors. Credit score for all pictures: Slobodan Mišković
UIAA ICE CLIMBING WORLD TOUR PARTNER
