The best sport climbers in the world return to the wall this weekend for the penultimate leg of the IFSC Climbing World Cup. Among them will be Olympic competitors including teenage sensation Toby Roberts, who snagged Great Britain’s first ever Olympic climbing gold with a first place podium finish in Paris.
Catching the eye at the recent Olympics, sport climbing has been on the up since its first Olympic outing at Tokyo 2020. There are upwards of 44 million climbers worldwide, with more than half getting started since Tokyo.
Beginning in April, the world cup is down to the final two of nine legs, over which sport climbing’s world champions will be decided. Held in stages across the globe, the world cup pits athletes against each other in speed climbing, lead climbing and bouldering, with a leader board ranking each nation.
Concluding next month, the crucial penultimate leg takes place in Prague, with men’s and women’s bouldering events running from today (September 20) until Sunday (September 22).
One of the three World Cup events, bouldering puts athletes' strength and ingenuity to the test as they scramble across short but complex ‘problems’ as quickly as possible.
Prior to Prague, Japan were out in front with 17 medals, six of them gold, with the US and Slovenia in hot pursuit with five golds each. Japan are also leading the pack in the men’s bouldering, with 17-year-old Sorato Anraku topping the table while Slovenian sensation Janja Garnbret is way out ahead in women's bouldering. USA women's Olympic silver medallist Brooke Raboutou is currently lying in second place.
The penultimate leg can be watched live, free of charge on the IFSC YouTube channel from 3am EDT / 8am BST / 9am CEST, alongside highlights and in-depth coverage of the competition so far.
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