Sport Climbing World Cup season 2023: preview, full schedule, and how to watch live action
The 35th edition of the World Cup starts on April 21st with 18 events in 11 countries. Find out everything about the competition, schedule, and stars to watch bellow.
Sport Climbing
Good news for sport climbing fans: action is back for a new year, with the first IFSC World Cup event of the 2023 season taking place in Hachioji, Japan, on April 21st. The last stop will be on September 22nd in Wujiang, China.
There will be 12 World Cups in 2023 with a total of 18 events: 6 boulder, 6 lead, and 6 speed.
Asia will be the first continent to welcome the top sport climbers. The first boulder World Cup will be in Japan, the second one will have two disciplines - boulder and speed - in Seoul, Korea, and the third one - only speed - will be in Indonesia.
The only stop of the World Cup in USA will be in Salt Lake City in May. Then, the athletes will head to Europe, with the Czech Republic and Italy hosting only boulder events.
The lead World Cup will not start until June in Austria, the same location where the boulder World Cup will finish. The classic spots of Switzerland (Villars), France (Charmonix and Briançon), and Slovenia will welcome the athletes for the eighth year in a row.
To finish, the series will return to Asia: the lead and speed event in Wujiang, China will be the last of the season.
The results at the 2023 World Cup events are highly important as the invitations for the Olympic Qualifier Series (the last chance to get a ticket for Paris 2024) are based on the international events results / rankings. Find out more about the qualifying process for boulder & lead and speed.
Live coverage of the action will be available on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com
Full schedule - IFSC Sport Climbing World Cup season 2023:
- 21-23 April: IFSC Boulder (B) World Cup in Hachioji, Japan
- 28-30 April: IFSC Boulder and Speed (B, S) World Cup in Seoul, South Korea
- 6-7 May: IFSC Speed (S) World Cup in Indonesia
- 19-21 May: IFSC Boulder and Speed (B, S) World Cup in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
- 2-4 June: IFSC Boulder (B) World Cup in Prague, Czech Republic
- 9-11 June: IFSC Boulder (B) World Cup in Brixen, Italy
- 14-18 June: IFSC Boulder and Lead (B, L) World Cup in Innsbruck, Austria
- 30 June-2 July: IFSC Lead and Speed (L, S) World Cup in Villars, Switzerland
- 7-9 July: IFSC Lead and Speed (L, S) World Cup in Chamonix, France
- 14-15 July: IFSC Lead (L) World Cup in Briançon, France
- 1-2 September: IFSC Lead (L) World Cup in Koper, Slovenia;
- 22-24 September: IFSC Lead and Speed (L, S) World Cup in Wujiang, China
Athletes to watch - IFSC Sport Climbing World Cup season 2023:
Will Janja Garnbret win her third women's lead title in a row? As always, the Olympic champ from Tokyo 2020 in 2021 and six-time world champion will be one of the favourites, especially in the lead event. Last year, the Slovenian won five out of seven events.
Natalia Grossman of the US will try to repeat her success of 2022. She won the bouldering overall series after clinching five straight gold medals. Her best friend Brooke Raboutou, who finished third overall last year, will be another of the athletes to beat along with France's Oriane Bertone or Serbia's Stasa Gejo.
In the men's boulder, Japanese dream team Ogata Yoshiyuki, Narasaki Tomoa and Fujii Kokoro, are among the favourites.
Olympic champ Alberto Ginés of Spain is ready for a new season after struggling with injuries in 2022.
With speed having its own event at Paris 2024, all the eyes will be set Indonesia’s Kiromal Katibin this season. Will he break the 5.00 seconds barrier?
More sport climbing action:
Apart from the World Cup, sport climbing fans will be busy this year with more exciting events. The 2023 World Championships will take place in Bern, Switzerland, from 1 to 12 August, with 10 direct quota places for Paris 2024 awarded. This includes 3 quota spots per gender in the combined boulder & lead (B&L) event, 2 quota berths per gender in speed (S). The world champs also include separate boulder (B), and lead (L) competitions.
The sport will also be featured at the European Games in Krakow.
At the end of the year, there is more climbing action to come: the sport will make its debut at the Pan American Games in Santiago, which will be a qualifying event for Paris. Five more continental qualification events will take place:
- 9-10 September: IFSC Speed European Qualifier in Italy
- 27-29 October: IFSC Boulder & Lead European Qualifier in Laval, France
- 3-7 November: IFSC Asian Qualifier, location TBD
- 23-26 November: IFSC Oceanian Qualifier, location TBD
- 14-17 December: IFSC African Qualifier, location TBD
How to watch the IFSC Sport Climbing World Cup 2023 season:
Live coverage of the action is available on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com (territorial restrictions may apply).
It will also available via International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) partner broadcasters and their YouTube Channel.