Cheongsong delivered an outstanding opening round of the UIAA Ice Climbing World Tour on the weekend of 10-11 January. As has become tradition, warm hospitality met biting temperatures and challenging conditions in South Korea’s ‘apple county’. On the wall, the close nature of the competition and technical prowess of the athletes bodes well for a thrilling season ahead.
Difficulty: Double French gold
Marion Salmon-Thomas is in the form of her life. Until this season she had amassed an impressive number of podium finishes but never a gold medal in a UIAA-sanctioned competition. She put that right by winning the UIAA Continental Cup in Slovakia in November. In Cheongsong, the 30-year old provided an impressive demonstration of her speed and agility to take the gold ahead of Catalina Shirley of the United States. With both athletes topping the route, Salmon-Thomas’s ascent in 7 minutes, 17 seconds was 12 seconds faster than her rival. Shirley can take enormous credit having competed in, and medalled, in the speed competition the evening before. Salmon-Thomas is returning to the World Tour after giving birth to her first child in 2025. Before the competition she said: “I am glad to be back, I have been thinking about this season for a while now. I have a new body, I am climbing differently from before. I have more urgency in my climbing and I want to get faster.” Faster she was and not only in the final, having excelled throughout the earlier rounds of the competition. Jinyeong Kim of South Korea took the bronze medal.
French joy was not confined to the women’s event. Former world champion and World Tour winner Louna Ladevant has found Cheongsong a hard venue to crack in the past. As the only male climber to conquer the routesetters’ puzzle and top the route, gold was his after a typically dynamic performance full of calculated risk taking. Korean athletes Min Cheol Kim and Younggeon Lee claimed silver and bronze, adding to the medal tally of the host country. The men’s last eight saw two new World Cup finalists in Wilson Whitley of the United States and Paul Zurbrügg of Switzerland. Three French athletes made the top five capping a great day for Team France.
Watch: Lead Finals
Speed: Safdarian and Kosek take gold
Mohammadreza Safdarian, the 33-year-old Iranian climber, clearly loves competing in Cheongsong. At last year’s World Cup, he won the speed title and finished second in the difficulty event. This year he focused significantly on the speed wall, a discipline he has increasingly grew stronger in. In the final duel (two ascents of climber vs climber) he soared to victory seeing off the challenge of Mongolian climber Saikhanjargal Otgonbayar (19:80) with combined time of 14.80 seconds. The latter in sealing silver claimed his first ever World Cup medal and becomes the latest Mongolian athlete to excel on the world stage. Safdarian’s compatriot Mohsen Beheshti Rad (15:43) saw off Liechtenstein’s Florian Gantner (19:99) in the bronze medal climb.
In the driving snow and on the glistening speed wall, the women’s competition was equally enthralling. Athletes from seven countries made up the final eight showing the growing competitiveness of speed climbing. Bronze went to United States’ Catalina Shirley (22:97) who saw off reigning World Tour champion, Selenge Nyamdoo (24:80) of Mongolia. Shirley had won the speed crown in Cheongsong in 2025. The final saw two European athletes contested the gold medal, Olga Kosek (20:09) of Poland and world champion Aneta Louzecka (22:69) of Czechia. A terrific first climb by Kosek proved the difference as she claimed a first World Cup gold in speed. This followed a number of podium finishes, including a gold in the International Masters event in Edmonton in 2025, and is reward for the impressive and continued development she has made over recent seasons.
Watch: Speed Final
Partners, supporters, next World Cup
This was the first World Cup staged with Fixe as Official Technical Partner. The technical staff and teams at each 2026 World Cup event will use Fixe ropes, carabiners, anchors, harnesses, and helmets, with the brand covering all organisational needs in these product categories. Athletes will use Fixe ropes, carabiners, and quickdraws throughout the circuit.
The UIAA would like to thank all organisers for the hosting of another superb event in Cheongsong. This includes the Korean Alpine Federation, the Cheongsong-gun county and the Gyeongsangbuk-do Alpine Federation. The event was also supported by a number of local partners including The North Face Korea and Outdoor Research. All uniforms worn by officials were supplied by Mammut, a new entry as one of the World Tour partners.
Round 2 of the World Tour makes its traditional pilgrimage to Saas-Fee in the Swiss Alps, where a very different competition awaits. Action takes place on Friday 23 and Saturday 24 January. Technical partner Fixe are planning a number of initiatives in Saas-Fee with details coming soon.
Photos from the event will be available shortly.
Further Details
Event page
Event programme
Registered athletes
How to follow the World Cups
For each World Cup event, a preview and review press release will be made available. Subscribe here to UIAA ice climbing press releases.
Livestreaming will be made available on the UIAA YouTube channel for all semi-finals and finals and certain qualification rounds.
On the UIAA Facebook and Instagram channels, shortform content including video clips and behind the scenes highlights will be posted as well as updates about livestreaming timings as well as podium winner posts and ‘climbs of the weekend’ clips.
Live results are available from the UIAA Results service.
The UIAA Ice Climbing website provides full information about each event including programmes and provisional timings.
Photos from competitions will available on the UIAA Flickr Channel. A ‘best of’ gallery for media wishing to preview the 2025-2026 season is available here.
Photo credits: UIAA/KAF/Rhea Kang
