The third of five World Cups which make up the 2025 UIAA Ice Climbing World Tour will be staged in Champagny-en-Vanoise, France, this weekend. The resort lies at heart of the proposed venue plan for the 2030 Olympic Winter Games hosted by the French Alps. For competition ice climbing it provides a rare opportunity for athletes to compete in a future Olympic environment. The event is organized in collaboration with UIAA member association Fédération française des clubs alpins et de montagne (FFCAM) and La Plagne resort.
Competition on Champagny’s magnificent ice tower takes place over three days. Lead qualification and semi-finals are staged on 30 and 31 January. The finals close the competition on 1 February. The entire speed event is run on the afternoon and evening of 31 January. The event programme can be found here.
There will be a number of cultural and side events held as part of the programme including the European Network for Outdoor Sports conference and a Sustainability and Environmental education event.
Nearly 120 athletes from the following member associations have registered: Canada (1), Czechia (5), Finland (4), hosts France (10), Iran (10), Ireland (1), Japan (1), Liechtenstein (8), Mongolia (5), the Netherlands (5), Poland (9), Slovakia (6), Slovenia (3), South Korea (11), Spain (4), Switzerland (9), United Kingdom (10), United States (14). Champagny acts as the halfway point in the season with two rounds in North America to follow. A full list of registered athletes is here.
Lead preview
Switzerland’s Sina Goetz (200 points) with two gold medals from as many events, starts as the athlete to beat in the women’s competition. Marianne van der Steen, Netherlands (131 pts) and reigning world champion Woonseon Shin (112 pts), South Korea, occupy second and third in the World Tour standings. Other consistent performers have been Catalina Shirley (110 pts), USA, Eimir McSwiggan, Ireland (105 pts) and Lorena Beck (98 pts), LIE.
In the men’s competition the Ladevant brothers will be the star attractions for the local fans. Former world champion Louna (126 pts) triumphed in Saas-Fee last weekend and will look to overcome the two athletes above him in the standings – South Korea’s Younggeon Lee (165 pts), a highly consistent performer over recent seasons, and his brother Tristan (131 pts), silver medallist in Saas-Fee. Seeking to move onto the World Tour podium is Switzerland’s Benjamin Bosshard (116 pts).
Livestream: Lead Semi-Finals, 09:00 CET, 31 January
Livestream: Lead Finals, 18:30 CET, 1 February
Speed preview
Mongolia’s Selenge Nyamdoo has collected a gold and a silver from two events to lead the standings on 180 points. Catalina Shirley (151 pts), USA, will seek to stay in close contention especially ahead of the two pending rounds in North America with world champion Aneta Louzecka (120 pts) hoping to return to the top of the podium this weekend. For the nearest chasers Shabnam Aasdi, IRN (91 pts), Sookhee Lee (90 pts) and Lorena Beck, LIE (90 pts) this will be a key weekend for their World Tour podium ambitions.
Livestream: Speed Finals, 19:00 CET, 31 January
There’s no question who the top men’s speed ice climber has been over recent seasons. Iran’s Mohammadreza Safdarian is one of only two athletes to take golds in both World Cups to date. Another gold will put him close to the World Tour title. In pursuit are Kherlen Nyanmdoo, MNG (123 pts), Mohsen Beheshti Rad, IRN (120 pts) and Mandakhbayar Chuluunbaatar, MNG (117 pts). A pattern has emerged with Iran and Mongolia becoming the dominant forces in men’s speed climbing.
Livestream information is detailed above. For a timezone convertor please click here.
The UIAA Ice Climbing World Tour leaves Europe following the weekend in Champagny with three events in North America lined up; the World Youth Championships in Ouray (7-9 February) before the final two World Cups in Longmont, Colorado (21-23 February) and the season closer in Edmonton, Canada (27 February-1 March)
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.
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Photo credit: UIAA/Nils Paillard
