Denver, Colorado will host the final round of the UIAA Ice Climbing World Cup season from 22-24 February.
Held within the city at Civic Center Park, and as part of a wider Winter Festival, the competition is expected to attract up to 15,000 spectators throughout the weekend.
After World Cup events in South Korea, China, Switzerland, Italy and France, the Series returns to the United States for the first time since December 2016. The event is organised in collaboration with The American Alpine Club. Outdoor Research is Title Sponsor of the UIAA Ice Climbing World Tour Series.
Livestreaming – see links below – will be available on the UIAA social media channels, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, as well as on partner channels EXTREME, EPIC TV and the Olympic Channel.
Preview: 2019 UIAA Ice Climbing World Cup, Denver, 22-24 February
Athletes prepare for Denver finale
How the Competition Stands:
Over a hundred athletes from 16 countries at set to compete in Denver. Twenty athletes from the United States, ten men and ten women, have registered. Canada will also be well represented with nine athletes.
Women’s Lead: Four gold medals from five World Cups gives Maria Tolokonina an almost unassailable lead at the top of the rankings. The Russian athlete leads South Korea’s Woonseon Shin by 76 points. Shin has also enjoyed a remarkable season claiming one gold and four silver medals. Shin’s teammate Hannarai Song – currently in third – is not expected to compete which provides the likes of Ireland’s Eimir McSwiggan, Finland’s Enni Bertling and Sina Goetz of Switzerland an opportunity to scale the rankings. Overall Standings.
Women’s Speed: Five different gold medal winners from as many World Cups have made the speed competition the most wide open. World Tour leader Ekaterina Koshcheeva (380 points) is not expected to take compete in Denver so her advantage could well be overturned by Tolokonina (326). A tantalising opportunity for the current World Champion in speed to win both the lead and speed events. Gold medallist last time out in Champagny, Natalia Savitskaia (also on 326) is also not competing in Denver which means Ekaterina Feoktistova (284) is likely to contest the title with Tolokonina. Feoktistova’s position would be even healthier had illness to disrupted the early part of her season. Overall Standings.
Men’s Lead: Leading by 153 points, Nikolai Kuzovlev has sealed the title and will compete in Denver. Like Tolokonina he has taken four gold medals from five events. Lying second is defending World Champion Heeyong Park. Following three silver medals, is this his turn to shine? Park will seek to make a statement ahead of defending his world title in Kirov, Russia in early March. The other lead gold medallist from the 2018-2019 season is Switzerland’s Yannick Glatthard who together with Nathan Clair, of France, and Russia’s Alexey Dengin will be among the contenders. Overall Standings.
Men’s Speed: The top three athletes including the runaway leader Anton Nemov (455) – four gold medals from five events – will not compete in Denver. The best placed athlete registered for Denver is Nikolai Kuzovlev (316) who will seek to take a first speed gold of the season and in turn potentially finish the rankings in second place. He could well battle gold out with compatriot Dmitriy Grebennikov – seventh overall. The best placed non-Russian athlete among the Denver entries is Canada’s David Bouffard, tenth. An open competition affords a number of athletes the chance to think big. Overall Standings.
Important Links:
Dedicated UIAA Event Page
UIAA & Ice Climbing
Event Programme
American Alpine Club
About Denver Page
Photos from the 2018-2019 UIAA Ice Climbing World Cup
Overall Rankings
Men’s Lead
Women’s Lead
Men’s Speed
Women’s Speed
All 2018-2019 season results
Livestream Links:
Speed Finals (including semi-finals): 23 February – from 18:00 local time (GMT -7)
Lead semi-finals: 24 February – 10:30 local time (GMT -7)
Lead Finals: 24 February – 16:30 local time (GMT -7)
TITLE SPONSOR UIAA ICE CLIMBING WORLD TOUR
