In the evocative winter environment of Champagny-en-Vanoise, French Alps, a compelling third UIAA Ice Climbing World Cup of the season unfolded last weekend.
The gold medals went to two national teams excelling this season: Mongolia and Switzerland. The former dominated the speed competition with Selenge Nyamdoo and Mandakhbayar Chuluunbaatar prevailing.
In the lead discipline, Switzerland took the plaudits with Sina Goetz winning for the third World Cup in a row and Benjamin Bosshard sealing a first ever UIAA Ice Climbing World Cup gold medal.
Away from the competition walls, it was a significant weekend. With the French Alps hosting the 2030 Olympic Winter Games, the event provided an opportunity to showcase ice climbing’s potential as a future Olympics sport and in a future Olympic setting. Organizers Fédération française des clubs alpins et de montagne (FFCAM) made a significant commitment to promoting the sport to a number of visiting officials and dignitaries. Furthermore a number of initiatives were carried out under the hashtag #IceClimbingFrenchAlps2030
Speed: Team Mongolia excel
Mongolia and Iran have been the dominant forces in the speed competition this season. In Friday evening’s men’s competition that proved the case again. The top four positions in the fastest time wins format were held by these two national teams. Chuluunbaatar’s (photo above) blistering sub 7-second ascent sealed gold with Mohsen Beheshti Rad (IRN) with a time of 7:04 taking silver and Kherlen Nyamdoo (MGL) earning bronze in 7:15. Seven athletes climbed in under eight seconds, an impressive feat. Mohammdreza Safdarian (IRN) retains World Tour leadership but had to settle for fourth place after golds in the previous two World Cups.
Overall World Tour standings:
(1) M Safdarian (IRN), 255 points; (2) M Chuluunbaatar (MGL), 217 pts; (3) M Beheshti Rad (IRN) 200 pts
Speed Finals: Replay livestream
In the women’s event, Selenge Nyamdoo’s rapid sub 10-second ascent sealed gold. She now leads the World Tour rankings after her first place in Saas-Fee last weekend. The highly consistent Catalina Shirley (USA) with a time of 10:45, and the only other athlete to go under 11 seconds, earned silver with Poland’s Olga Kosek, 11:46, claiming bronze for her first medal of the World Cup season. It sets up an interesting battle for World Tour supremacy with Shirley having the chance to close the gap with the next World Cup held in her home country.
Overall World Tour standings:
(1) S Nyamdoo (MGL), 280 points; (2) C Shirley (USA), 231 pts; (3) A Louzecka (CZE) 175 pts
Lead: Three out of three for Sina Goetz
Sina Goetz (photo) is enjoying a dominance of the women’s lead competition akin to Woonseon Shin’s supremacy last season. Three gold medals on three very different competition structures points to an athlete at the top of her game. On Champagny’s highly technical route, modified this year with a new top section, renowned for its steep passages and overhangs and a bottom part entirely on natural ice, she was the only athlete to top. The final eight athletes came from seven different nations showing the increasing competitiveness across a number of national federations. Woonseon Shin, reigning world champion, took silver and Catalina Shirley added to her medal from the speed event to seal bronze. Shirley is now just seven points of a top three World Tour position.
Lead Finals: Replay livestream
Overall World Tour standings:
(1) S Goetz (SUI), 300 points; (2) W Shin (KOR), 192 pts; (3) M Van der Steen (NED) 182 pts
22-year old Swiss athlete Benjamin Bosshard has come close to World Cup gold before. He twice took bronze last season most notably at the World Championships in Edmonton. In Champagny, his top three performances in the qualifications and semi-finals boded well. He faced an agonising wait after posting the best performance in the finals, having to witness two greats of the sport – former world champions Heeyong Park and Louna Ladevant climb. Park would turn back the clock to take an impressive silver while Ladevant, gold medallist in Saas-Fee, seemed on course for a repeat performance before slipping when negotiating a stubborn quickdraw when in fifth position. Younggeon Lee (KOR) took bronze to retain World Tour leadership.
Overall World Tour standings:
(1) Y Lee (KOR), 230 points; (2) B Bosshard (SUI), 216 pts, (3) L Ladevant (FRA) 177 pts
The competition also included the European Championships. The medals went to:
Men’s lead: 1. Benjamin Bosshard (SUI), 2. Jonathan Brown (SUI), 3. Louna Ladevant (FRA)
Women’s lead: 1. Sina Goetz (SUI), 2. Vivien Labarile (SUI), 3. Marianne van der Steen (NED)
Men’s speed: 1. Florian Ganter (LIE), 2. Jonathan Brown (SUI), 3. Andrea Gantner (LIE)
Women’s speed: 1. Olga Kosek (POL), 2. Aneta Louzecka (CZE), 3. Lea Beck (LIE)
The European Championships team ranking can be found here.
The UIAA thanks FFCAM and La Plagne resort for their excellent hosting of the event.
The senior athletes now prepare for Round 4 of the World Cup season in Longmont, USA on 21-23 February. However, top class action continues next weekend with the World Youth Championships taking place outside of Europe for the first time. Ouray, Colorado will be the host venue. A full preview will be posted on Thursday 6 February.
Assets for Media and Fans
Short-form content, highlights, podium posts and updates are available on the UIAA social media channels, notably Facebook and Instagram.
Event photos are available on the UIAA Flickr channel.
Live results are available from the UIAA Ice Climbing website.
A selection of ‘best of’ photos for media, prepared for the 2024-2025 season, can be found here.
Press releases will be available for all World Cup events, both previews (-3 days before) and reviews (day +1). Please subscribe to receive press releases directly to your inbox.
Please visit iceclimbing.sport for all event information, details on event programmes and timings, athlete registrations, live results and more.
UIAA ICE CLIMBING WORLD TOUR PARTNER
All photo credits: UIAA/Julia Roger-Veyer
