The IFSC recently announced that Salt Lake City—the home city of USA Climbing’s headquarters—is scheduled to host back-to-back World Cup events this spring: A bouldering World Cup competition on May 21-22, and a bouldering and speed competition the following weekend—on May 28-30. USA Climbing is also scheduled to host a Paraclimbing World Cup stateside in the month of October.
These IFSC events in the U.S. are a result of some shuffling and rescheduling of previously scheduled World Cup events. For example, the competition on May 21-22 was originally slated to take place in Munich, Germany. (In the press release, the IFSC gave no explanation for the change of country.) And the competition on May 28-30 was originally scheduled to take place in mid-June rather than late-May.
World Cup competitions tend to be bustling events in any host city; competitors, coaches, federation officials, and fans from around the world bring an uptick in business to local restaurants, hotels, and climbing gyms. The most recent World Cup competition on American soil took place last year in Vail, Colorado, which before 2020 had hosted a World Cup every year since 2008.
“It is a great opportunity for the IFSC to host two World Cups on two consecutive weekends,” stated the IFSC’s Sport Director, Silvia Verdolini. “We already started working closely with USA Climbing to organize courses for judges and routesetters in the days between the two competitions…”
John Muse, USA Climbing’s VP of Sport, added, “We are honored to host back-to-back IFSC World Cups in 2021. With reduced travel, this serves our international community of climbers well, and we are excited to host the world in our beautiful home of Salt Lake City.”
Stay tuned to CBJ for future IFSC and USA Climbing news.
John Burgman is the author of High Drama, a book that chronicles the history of American competition climbing. He is a Fulbright journalism grant recipient and a former magazine editor. He holds a master’s degree from New York University and bachelor’s degree from Miami University. In addition to writing, he coaches a youth bouldering team. Follow him on Twitter @John_Burgman and Instagram @jbclimbs. Read our interview Meet John Burgman, U.S. Comp Climbing’s Top Journalist.
