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Just 109 days before the start of the Olympic Games Paris 2024, the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) World Cup Series 2024 are kicking off in Keqiao, China, with the first Boulder World Cup competition on Chinese territory since Wujiang 2019.
 
Scheduled over three days – from 8 to 10 April – Keqiao 2024 is meant to be the first half of a double-header that will also include the World Cup Wujiang 2024, featuring Lead and Speed competitions and scheduled from 12 to 14 April.
 
Of the 16 climbers that have already qualified for Paris 2024 in the two Boulder & Lead event, 10 are registered to compete in Keqiao, including Tokyo 2020 gold medallist Janja Garnbret and bronze medallist Jakob Schubert of Austria.

SCA can confirm the athletes competing the first two rounds of the 2024 IFSC World Cup season starting in China on 8th April.

IFSC World Cup 1 – Keqiao, CHN (Boulder), 8 – 10 April

Oceana Mackenzie
Maya Stasiuk
Emily Scott
Campbell Harrison
Dylan Parks

IFSC World Cup 2 – Wujiang, CHN (Lead), 11 – 14 April

Maya Stasiuk
Emily Scott
Roxy Perry
Campbell Harrison
Dylan Parks

The team will be accompanied by SCA National team coaches Irene Torrealba and Khosro Hashemzadeh.

Good luck to the team!

Don’t forget to watch all the action and support your Australian athletes via the IFSC youtube channel here

SCA is proud to announce our inaugural list of Nationally Categorised Athletes for 2024 based on the recently developed SCA Athlete Categorisation Framework.  

Athlete Categorisation Frameworks are developed in conjunction with the Australian Institute of Sport to provide a consistent basis, both within and across sports to: 

• Identify the athletes with the greatest potential to contribute to Australia consistently winning medals at major international events; 
• Inform the prioritisation of support to these athletes; and 
• Track their performance over time.

The confirmed 2024 list of SCA Nationally Categorised Athletes is:

• Campbell Harrison, VIC (Podium Potential)

• Oceana Mackenzie, VIC (Podium Potential)

• Dylan Parks, NSW (Emerging)

• Dylan Soin, NSW (Emerging)

• Grace Crowley, VIC (Emerging)

• Maxim Pare, WA (Emerging)

• Maya Stasiuk, VIC (Emerging)

The 2024 SCA Athlete Categorisation Framework can be found here

Congratulations to the named athletes!

The 2024 domestic season gets underway this weekend with the 2024 NSW/ACT Youth Boulder Titles. Over 150 youth athletes have registered for the one day even which is being hosted by Climbfit Kirrawee.

Athletes are vying for spots on the NSW team for the Nationals Youth Championships which will be held in  South East Queensland in April.

Good luck to all athletes competing this weekend!

Sport Climbing Australian is proud to announce the Australian Paraclimbing team.  The 2024 team will be our biggest yet with 14 athletes selected to represent Australia. The team has doubled in size from 7 athletes in 2023, an amazing achievement which can be put down to the hard work of Sian Spencer, Katie Kaminsky, Alex McInnes and Sarah Lacombe.

Returning to the team for 2024 is multiple world cup podium athlete Sarah Larcombe along with Russell Harrison, father of Olympian Campbell Harrison, Eddie Sparks, Araminta McLennan, Michael Tarulli and Jessie Baiyatarkis.

All the new members of the team attended a training camp in Sydney in November which provided them the opportunity to training in a new team environment and to learn from the experienced members of the team of what is involved in completing at the international level.

The 2024 Paraclimbing season will see events in Salt lake City, Innsbruck in Austria  and France.

We wish 2024 Paraclimbing team the very best for the season ahead.

2024 Paraclimbing Team.pdf

Sport Climbing Australia is proud to announce the 2024 Sport Climbing Team. 

The team consists of our 2 Olympic representatives, Oceania Mackenzie and Campbell Harrison who book their ticket to Paris at the recent Oceania Qualifier in Melbourne.

Joining them are some familiar faces, Roxy Perry, Ben Abel, Max Pare and Aiden Yanev. Both Max and Aiden will be in their second year of Open competition.  Making a return to the Open team is Sam Lavender who had a couple of years off competition to concentrate on route setting. Sam had outstanding performances at the lead selection event and Boulder championships.

Also in their second year of Open competition are Maya Statiuk, Dylan Parks and Dylan Soin and they will be joined by other youth climbers Emily Scott, Summer Fraser and Atako Nakamura. Showing the sports future is bright with this pool of young talent to get their first taste of Open International competition.

We wish all athletes  a successful 2024 season.

2024 Open Team.pdf

Ian was previously a Senior High Performance Manager at the Queensland Academy of Sport, where he supported athletes and programs in delivering performance outcomes. Previously,  he was a Performance Pathway Coaching Consultant at the Australian Institute of Sport, contributing to the design and implementation of successful performance pathways for athletes and coaches alike. Ian's global experience in coaching cycling further strengthens his qualifications, making him an exceptional fit for the role of Performance Pathway Manager at SCA.

Ian is SCA’s first full time employee and our first Performance Pathway Manager. His arrival signifies a momentous step forward in our quest to elevate the sport of climbing within Australia. His expertise and dedication to sport are a valuable asset to our organisation. This past week, Ian along with members of our national coaching team attended the AIS conference: World Class to World Best. This was a great opportunity to introduce Ian to the broader high performance system in his new role and demonstrates SCA's commitment to engage with the wider sporting community.

IFSC is delighted to communicate that Campbell Harrison has been elected as a new member of the IFSC Athletes’ Commission for the term 2023-2027.

We are glad to see Mr Harrison become an athlete representative and look forward to working together with him in this new role. He will bring a positive contribution to the Commission, to athletes, and to Sport Climbing as a whole. (Pietro Gianoglio - IFSC General Affairs Officer)

Campbell is one of our most senior and experience members of the International team and brings years of knowledge and experience to the role. We wish him all the very best with this new role.

The Sport Australia Hall of Fame (SAHOF) is investing in our athletes of the future, naming 10 emerging stars who will receive Tier 2 scholarships in its 2024 Scholarship and Mentoring Program. 

"I am so grateful and honoured to receive a Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship. This scholarship will provide me with support from a network of extraordinary Australian athletes. These are people who have been, or are still, on the same journey as myself. As a young athlete in an emerging sport, it is vital to have the support necessary to travel, compete and train so that I can stand amongst the best in the world.”

– Maya Stasiuk on being selected as a 2024 Tier 2 Scholarship Holder

"Sport Climbing Australia congratulates Maya for her selection to the 2023 Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship & Mentoring Program. Maya's exceptional performance in the 2022 Open Boulder National Championships, securing first position, reflects her outstanding talent and dedication. Her commendable participation in IFSC World Cups and recent Youth World Championships, achieving 23rd and 26th positions in Lead and Bouldering respectively, highlights her potential at just 15 years old. With her remarkable achievements and dedication to her sport, we are confident that Maya will achieve great things in the climbing world.”

– Sport Climbing Australia Chair, Philip Goebel 

Image: Lena Drapella

Larcombe's result builds on her World Cup results this year in Salt Lake City, Innsbruck and Villars with a silver sweep across all comps. Reflecting to @ausclimbing, Larcombe said "My first World Championships was an amazing experience, and I’m happy (and relieved!) to be finishing the season as Vice World Champion in W-AL2. The scale and atmosphere of this event was huge and so exciting, so it was especially great to be there with the Australian team and to cheer on our athletes across all the sport climbing disciplines. I want to send a huge thanks to everyone for their support this season, and keep your fingers crossed for Paraclimbing at LA28!"  

Image: Jan Virt

Four Australian athletes competed at the Paraclimbing World Championships, with Jessie Bayiartakis also competing in the W-AL2 category and finishing 10th. Michael Tarulli placed 12th in the M-RP2 event and Araminta McLennan placed 13th in the W-RP1 event. While all four athletes made their Paraclimbing World Championship debut, it also served as the international competition debut for Bayiartakis and Tarulli.

It's no coincidence that all four athletes are from Melbourne, where there is a strong paraclimbing community through the work of Adaptive Climbing Victoria (ACV). ACV was founded in 2018 by Katie Kaminsky, an APA Sport and Exercise/Amputee Rehabilitation Physiotherapist, to offer people living with a disability the opportunity to participate in the sport of rock climbing, both competitively and socially, no matter their ability. 

Image: Lena Drapella

Kaminsky is the National Physiotherapist and supported the team in Bern, along with National Coach Alex MacInnes. MacInnes says "The friendly and supportive atmosphere that is synonymous with climbing gyms everywhere seemed amplified in paraclimbing isolation. There was a real sense of fun and excitement in the air - competition certainly existed but everyone just seemed more excited to get the opportunity to climb again."

Sport Climbing Australia is grateful to have received support from Airbnb through the Australian Olympic Committee to provide a team hub for the Climbing and Paraclimbing World Championship Teams. The Airbnb property allowed the athletes to relax after the demands of competition, wind down with post-training stretches, have a space to receive physiotherapy treatment, enjoy team dinners cooked in the fully equipped kitchen and create a shared team experience with other athletes and performance staff. 

Keep up with all the Australian Climbing Team news on Instagram at @ausclimbing.