Welcome to Behind The Wall, a weekly newsletter published every Saturday.
Each week, I highlight the favourite things I’ve watched, read and listened to from the world of indoor and competition climbing. I also track where you can buy competition tickets during the World Cup season.
This week, we got some insider views on the World Cups and other bouldering competitions from athletes. We explored the differences between the old and new combined formats, and we learned how a 2024 Olympian feels about money. We heard why Ashima Shiraishi prefers climbing statically, and we learned about how to become a routesetter from Kasia Pietras, who started setting in the 2000s.
I know there is lots of great content 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
Day 2 of a World Cup Training Camp from Toby Roberts with 6 World Cup Gold Medallists. Watch Day 2 of the Rock City World Cup training camp with Toby. We get to see 6 World Cup gold medalists take a second run at the “1 minute 2 attempts” format on some of the climbs they had already done on day 1 and some new ones, turning the competition into a redpoint comp.
Follow Alex Megos competing at the German Bundesliga Boulder Cup. Watch Alex compete at the Boulder Bundaslegia in Karlsruhe against Yannick Flohé and Jan Hojer.
A classic Bouldering Bobat session on the Blockfest final Boulders. Watch Jake Mason and Joe Partridge attempt the Female final boulders of the Blokfest Boulder series at Yonder Climbing Wall in London.
Escalade - Oriane Bertone en route pour Paris. Interview in French with Oriane Bertone on her Olympic journey, including what she thought about the Olympics when they were announced in 2016. French subtitles are available, and auto-translating the captions mostly works.
Studio Bloc Masters Semi-Finals Boulder Breakdowns from Epic TV. Teresa Corti from Epic TV talks to some of the semi-finals at Studio Bloc Masters 2024 about the boulders.
Read
Interview with photographer and media producer Jon Glassberg. Learn how Jon started taking photos and making videos and what drives him to continue to share climbers' stories.
Who would have won Tokyo 2020 under the Paris 2024 scoring system? Xa White from UKClimbing tries applying the new Boulder&Lead format to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics for the Boulder and Lead rounds. The article really shows how the new points system rewards consistency compared to the Tokyo system, which emphasises ranking higher in one discipline.
Learn how Campbell Harrison funds his competition climbing career and his path to the Olympics on ABC News Australia. Learn more about how Campbell manages his money as a full-time competitive athlete.
Listen
World Cup Recaps and Revelations From Kyra Condie and Allison Vest on the Circle Up Podcast. Recap of the China IFSC World Cups in Keqiao and Wujiang from Kyra’s perspective and a rant about why we are still dealing with bad weather as an indoor sport.
Aidan Roberts and Sam Prior talk with Ashima Shiraishi on the Careless Talk Podcast. Learn how Ashima is returning to pursuing climbing with a focus on community and connection, how her relationship with her parents shaped her, and an ode to static climbing.
Interview with OG Routesetter Kasia Pietras on The Impact Driver Podcast with Holly Chen. Learn about how Kasia got started setting in the early 2000s, the importance of balancing routesetting with climbing at the same gym, and how to have a career as a route setter.
Interview with Udo Neumann and Will Brown on learning movement on Figuring Things Out Podcast. Learn about how Udo got started climbing, how to learn movements, and the relevance to competition climbing.
International Climbing Competition Tickets
The competition season has started, so here is the rundown of where you can find World Cup and OQS tickets.
- Salt Lake City (USA) Paraclimbing World Cup May 7 – 8.
- Shanghai Olympic Qualifier. Sport Climbing tickets have already sold out after going on sale on April 8. You can still get tickets for the Urban Festival and other sports.
- Budapest Olympic Qualifier: A Hungarian article on the OQS event in Budapest from the official Hungarian site for the Olympics states that the event will be free to enter.
- Innsbruck (Austria) Boulder, Lead and Paraclimbing World Cups June 24 – 30. World Cup Pass Tickets sold out within a few hours. Single-day tickets will be available on May 1. You will only need tickets for the Boulder finals and Lead semi-finals and finals. Some tickets are still available.
- Chamonix (France) Lead and Speed World Cup July 12 – 14. The event will be free to attend.
- Briançon (France) Lead and Speed World Cup July 16 – 19. The event will be free to attend.
- European Championship in Villars August 23 – September 1. Tickets are yet to be announced.
- Koper (Slovenia) September 6 – 7. Tickets are yet to be announced.
- Prague (Czechia) World Cup September 20 – 22. VIP tickets are sold out, but seating and standing tickets are still available.
- Seoul World Cup October 2 – 6. Tickets are yet to be announced.
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 D.M. me on Instagram.
See you next week!
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