World Youth Championships held in Switzerland

The final results:

The UIAA Ice Climbing Commission has also made training young climbers and popularizing the sport among the youth of the world a top priority with the organization of the first youth training camp in Kirov, Russia.

Please click here for full results of the 2015 UIAA World Youth Ice Climbing Championships

“The success of the youth event and the increasing number of athletes from new countries that participate in the youth ice climbing programme is a strong indicator that the future of our sport is healthy,” said Urs Stoecker, president of the UIAA Ice Climbing Commission.

“We are very pleased with how the youth competition, which began just three years ago, has increasing numbers of competitors and countries participating,” said Stoecker.

Stoecker welcomed the presence of young athletes from the U.S.A. and Canada who are competing in the youth championships for the first time and said many national federations, such as the French Alpine Club (FFCAM), have now begun to focus seriously on the development of competitive ice climbing among youth climbers.

The UIAA – International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation ice climbing competitions are made possible with the generous support of The North Face in Korea. The agreement involves a long-term commitment by the UIAA and The North Face to champion and develop the sport of competitive ice climbing.

The long-term goal of the UIAA is to make competition ice climbing an event in the Winter Olympics.

For more information, please click here or email iceclimbing@theuiaa.org

For more photos on Facebook please click here and to click here for coverage of the 2015 UIAA Ice Climbing World Tour.