Welcome to Behind The Wall, a weekly newsletter published every Saturday. In it, I highlight my favourite things I’ve watched, read and listened to from the world of competition and indoor climbing over the last week.
This week has been dominated by the first IFSC World Cups of the season in Keqiao and Wujiang. You can catch up on all the action in Keqiao on the Olympic channel or the IFSC YouTube page. The Lead and Speed World Cup in Wujiang is still ongoing. You can watch it on Eurosport or the IFSC YouTube Channel.
I know there is lots of great content out there that I don’t know about. Let me know at behindthewall@inside-climbing.com, and I’ll give you a shout-out if I feature it.
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Watch
- IFSC World Climbing Club Behind the scenes at Keqiao. Matt Groom and the IFSC media team have created some excellent behind-the-scenes videos at World Cups. Matt Groom is at his best, bringing out the best in whoever he interviews.
- Are climbing gyms in Japan… just better? Anna Hazelnut explores the infamous B-Pump Ogikubo climbing gym in Tokyo and finds some really hard slabs.
- Keqiao Boulder World Cup Analysis (not a debrief) from Plastic Weekly. Although the long-running Debrief series from Plastic Weekly discussing IFSC World Cups has ended, Norton is back with a shorter deep dive behind Keqiao. He recaps the competition and explains why Janja Garnbret’s win in Keqiao made her one step closer to being the best competition boulderer of all time.
Read
- Molly Thompson-Smith on the fight for diversity in climbing. Interview with Molly Thompson-Smith on her fight to make climbing more diverse while balancing her own sporting ambitions to reach the Olympics in Paris. A must-read.
- Interview with Speed Climber Aniya Holder, 2024 Paris Olympian. Learn about how Holder got into climbing, why she can’t compete in Lead or Boulder disciplines after breaking all her knuckles, and how she trained on 1/3 of the speed wall to reach the Olympics.
- Erin McNeice Interview from 2022. An old interview with Erin McNiece, who reached her first Boulder World Cup final in Keqiao, becoming the fourth British woman to reach an IFSC World Cup final.
- Female Competition Analysis from Lena Ray on Instagram. Lena Ray looks at how many female setters are involved at the IFSC level, and the answer is shocking.
Listen
- Keep them Sketched out - Impact Driver Podcast with Holly Chen and Claire Kawainui. Learn about how Kawainui became a route setter, the difference between commercial and competition routesetting, and why having female setters is so important.
Competition Tickets
The competition season has started, and I will keep track of where you can buy tickets for upcoming competitions as part of this newsletter.
- Shanghai Olympic Qualifier (China) May 16-19th. Sport Climbing tickets have already sold out after going on sale on April 8th. You can still get tickets for the Urban Festival and other sports.
- Salt Lake City (USA) Paraclimbing World Cup May 7th.
- Salt Lake City (USA) World Cup May 3 - 5th.
- Prague (Czechia) World Cup September 20–22nd.
- Innsbruck (Austria) Boulder, Lead and Paraclimbing World Cups June 24 - 30. World Cup Pass Tickets go on sale on April 15th, and single-day tickets on May 1st. You will only need tickets for the Boulder finals and the Lead semi-finals and finals.
That’s a Wrap
I hope you enjoyed this edition of Behind the Wall. Let me know what you think at behindthewall@insideclimbing.com or DM me on Instagram.
See you next week!
