Tokyo Olympic Games: Sport Climbing athletes lineup complete

Notwithstanding all uncertainties surrounding the Tokyo Olympics, postponed last March due and scheduled to take place from 23 July to 8 August 2021, and despite all the difficulties associated with the coronavirus pandemic, the International Federation of Sport Climbing has been pressing ahead with its qualification process and yesterday finally announced the allocation of the final two quota places. These now go to 17-year-old Chaehyun Seo and 25-year-old Jongwon Chon, both from South Korea, who qualified on the basis of their results in the 2019 Hachioji Climbing World Championships.

Following the at times tumultuous Sport Climbing Qualification System, the two climbers qualified via their respective placings in the 2019 Combined event where Seo finished 13th in the women’s event and Chon 20th in the men’s event.

Seo successfully emerged as a World Cup medal contender during the 2019 season. At only 15 years old, she made her World Cup debut in Villars (SUI), winning silver in the Lead event. She went on to dominate the rest of the Lead season with four consecutive World Cup victories – in Chamonix (FRA), Briançon (FRA), Xiamen (CHN) and Inzai (JPN) – and the 2019 Lead World Cup trophy. Chon for his part has already won five World Cup gold medals in the Boulder event since 2015, and has participated in a total of 61 world cups and championships in his career. 

The allocation of the two quota places completes the Tokyo 2020 Olympic qualification journey that kicked off in Hachioji (JPN), and subsequently included the IFSC Combined Qualifier in Toulouse (FRA), and the 2020 IFSC continental championships in Los Angeles (USA), Moscow (RUS), Cape Town (RSA) and Sydney (AUS).

"Today we have concluded our Qualification process: we know the names of our first Olympians and it is a great moment in our history!” commented IFSC President Marco Scolaris. “The 20 men and 20 women can now focus on Tokyo 2020 and inspire all people involved in the preparation of the Olympic Games, despite the challenges the pandemic has brought."

Qualified athletes - alphabetic order as of 09/03/2021
MALE
Julia Chanourdie FRA
Kyra Condie USA
Shauna Coxsey GBR
Janja Garnbret SLO
Anouck Jaubert FRA
Iuliia Kaplina RUS
Petra Klingler SUI
Mia Krampl SLO
Oceania Mackenzie AUS
Viktoriia Meshkova RUS
Aleksandra Miroslaw POL
Akiyo Noguchi JPN
Miho Nonaka JPN
Jessica Pilz AUT
Brooke Raboutou USA
Laura Rogora ITA
Chaehyun Seo KOR
Yiling Song CHN
Erin Sterkenburg RSA
Alannah Yip CAN

MALE
Jongwon Chon KOR
Nathaniel Coleman USA
Christopher Cosser RSA
Colin Duffy USA
Ludovico Fossali ITA
Alberto Ginés López ESP
Kai Harada JPN
Jan Hojer GER
Rishat Khaibullin KAZ
Bassa Mawem FRA
Mickael Mawem FRA
Alexander Megos GER
Sean McColl CAN
Tomoa Narasaki JPN
Adam Ondra CZE
Tom O'Halloran AUS
Yufei Pan CHN
Michael Piccolruaz ITA
Aleksei Rubtsov RUS
Jakob Schubert AUT

Info: www.ifsc-climbing.org