UKC

The second round of the IFSC World Cup took place in the Swiss alpine village of Villars (15th-16th July). Sean McColl of Canada took first place with an impressive ascent, while Janja Garnbret continued her strong performance, achieving a second gold medal in this World Cup series.

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In reply to UKC News:

It should be "Jain Kim of Korea and Anak Verhoeven of Belgium and Jessica Pilz from Austria had identical performances in the final and semi-final..."

In reply to UKC News:

Men's final was really interesting with Ghisolfi, Supper and Skofic out and some interesting additions.

Thought the new video style was pretty good where interviews were conducted in the small picture while allowing to carry on watching the climbers still climbing.

No sign of Team GB anywhere which seems a shame. The senior team has 10 pretty good climbers. Don't understand why none of them entered this comparatively local event?

In reply to stp:

To put it simply, it all comes down to funding, I'm afraid! Also, unlike competitors from many other countries on the circuit, none of the senior lead team members are full-time climbers to the same extent as the top-performers from abroad. Competition experience at this level is necessary in order to improve results, but if you can't get to competitions in the first place then it's an uphill struggle.

In reply to Natalie Berry - UKC:

I realise funding is an, if not the, issue. But it raises the question if we can't afford to send the team to comps what's the point of having a team in the first place? There's money and considerable time and effort put into the team even if it never competes. All that just seems like a waste, money and time down the drain. Or is the team there as some kind of status symbol for the BMC? Maybe they'd just feel too shoddy if they didn't get a team together at all.

And if the team members know they're unlikely to even take part in the comps then what motivation is there to train hard in the specific way needed for competition routes on plastic?

I know someone who was coached and trained for the speed climbing comps one year. He trained really hard and looked really good on the local wall. But he was never entered into any competitions. I don't think he's part of it any more and I'm not surprised. All that training with no pay off at the end. How could anyone stay motivated for that?

Finally I can't see how the non participation can do anything to attract sponsors. It's not a lot of help for Berghaus, who supply team jackets, if the team are never seen at any events.

In reply to stp:

Maybe the BMC should do the same as MCofS with Climb Scotland and have a separate organisation to handle indoor/competition climbing and affiliate to IFSC. A separate budget with an allocated share of the government funding, the income from youth comps, a share of membership subscriptions based on people who signed up to take part in comps or specified that they wanted to support the comp activity and any commercial sponsorship would get independence from hard line trad climbers and hill walkers who feel generally negative to the whole activity.

If the BMC want to be the UK representative organisation for comp climbing and the UK affiliate to IFSC they should be sending a small team to a reasonable number of IFSC lead events as well as the bouldering.

In reply to Natalie Berry - UKC:

Well I take it back regarding sponsorship. You did a great job tonight in the commentary booth with your Berghaus jacket, good commentary too. Commiserations about the pulley injury though. Hope it heals quickly.