The UIAA Ice Climbing Commission hosted its annual meeting on the weekend of 9-10 May. Held online, 13 Commission members from ten countries as well as representatives of the UIAA Executive Board and Office, dialled in.
The Commission addressed the following subjects:
2019/2020 season
- A review of the positives (high quality of the competitions, improvements on previous seasons) and negatives (too few competitions, issues with cancelled events) of the 2019/2020 season which witnessed three UIAA Ice Climbing World Cup events, a UIAA Ice Climbing World Youth Championships and a number of Continental competitions.
- Feedback from the post-season athlete survey will be distributed to all athletes and event organisers
General
- The situation concerning the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)/Russia was discussed both the consequences of the final decision and the delay (Covid-19) to Russia’s appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
- The future direction of the UIAA Ice Climbing World Tour was discussed in view of its continued development and the ambition for the sport of competition ice climbing to one day become part of the Olympic Winter Games competition programme. A working group will be created to take these developments further.
- Through its Anti-Doping Commission, the UIAA is working closely on compliance with new WADA regulations coming into force in 2021.
- The Commission agreed to hold more frequent online meetings to facilitate communication and improve the speed of decision making.
- New Sub Commissions and Commission Corresponding Members were agreed. The Athlete Sub Commission (currently two athletes) will be expanded.
- A new booking system for pre-season ice climbing training camps will be launched.
- A Working Group to further improve the speed discipline of the sport will be set-up focussing on the development of more reliable timing equipment and better coverage through the UIAA livestream.
2020/2021 season
- The current situation with Covid-19 was discussed, contingency plans considered for the 2020/2021 season as well as an overview of the criteria which needs to be met for events to go ahead. Decisions will be taken inline with WHO/IOC recommendations and after consultation with the UIAA Medical Commission and CCC Taskforce.
- The 2020/2021 UIAA Ice Climbing World Tour calendar was agreed with new World Cup and continental competitions planned. Details will be published shortly.
- Sustainability was a key topic: UIAA Event Organisers will in the future need to adhere to new guidelines to ensure competitions meant more stringent sustainability criteria.
- The list of Officials for then 2020/2021 season was agreed.
- An increase in competition prize money was agreed.
Main Photo: Improving the speed discipline of the sport, and the filming of it, is a focus of the UIAA Ice Climbing Commission. Photo: UIAA/Kaspar Kellerhals
