The news

The IFSC Climbing World Championships drew to a close on 05/07/2009 in Qinghai with Patxi Usobiaga Lakunza (ESP) and Johanna Ernst (AUT) winning the Lead. The Russians Alexey Rubtsov and Yulia Abramchuk won the Bouldering event, while Speed was won by the Chinese Qixin Zhong and Cuilian He.

Kilian Fischhuber from Austria and Akiiyo Noguchi from Japan won the final stage of the Bouldering World Cup 2009 in Eindhoven last weekend and also won the Bouldering World Cup 2009. Rustam Gelmanov from Russia and Anna Stohr from Austria won silver, while Natalija Gros from Slovenia and Gabriele...

On 12 and 13 June the 5th and final stage of the Bouldering World Cup 2009 will take place in Eindhoven, Netherlands. The race for supremacy is between Rustam Gelmanov and Kilian Fischhuber, while Noguchi Akiyo is favourite for the women's category, ahead of Anna Stöhr.

The XVII Mezzalama Trophy took place on Monte Rosa on 02/05/2009. The legendary ski mountaineering competition was won by Manfred Reichegger, Matteo Eydallin and Denis Trento in a record breaking 4:01'22. The women's event was won by Francesca Martinelli, Roberta Pedranzini, Laetitia Roux in 4:43'31".

On Saturday 25 April the second stage of the Speed World Cup will take place in Trent, Italy. The event is part of the 25th edition of the Trento FilmFestival.

The 17th Mezzalama Trophy will take place on 19 April 2009. This classic ski mountaineering marathon takes place once every two years and dates back to 1933. As usual it starts at Breuil-Cervinia and finishes at Gressoney la Trinité via the Monte Rosa glacier and the summit of Monte Castore.

Due to the earthquake which hit the Abruzzo region of Italy, the Vertigo sports club has decided to cancel the International Lead Master at Penne, scheduled for 18 and 19 April 2009.

On 28 February the Plenary Assembly of the IFSC - International Federation of Sport Climbing elected Arco (Trentino, Italy) as the seat of the World Championship 2011. The town in the Garda Trentino region beat the other two candidates, Paris and Moscow.

Last weekend Markus Bendler from Austria and Maria Tolokonina from Russia won the third and final stage of the Ice Climbing World Cup 2009 Lead and in doing so they also won the overall Trophy 2009. Maria Tolokonina won the Speed event, together with teammate Pavel Gulyaev.

Markus Bendler from Austria and Angelika Rainer from Italy won the Ice Climbng World Championship and the second stage of the Ice Climbing World Cup, held in Switzerland's Saas Fee last weekend. Russian athletes Maria Tolokonina and Pavel Gulyaev doubled their Daone success and won the Speed event.

The 24th edition of Valtellina Orobie, valid as the second stage of the ski mountaineering World Cup, took place on 18/01/2009 in took place at Albosaggia and was won by Laetitia Roux from France and Florent Troillet from Switzerland.

On 18/01/09 Markus Bendler from Austria and Maria Tolokonina from Russia won the 8th Ice Master in Valle di Daone, valid as the first stage of the Difficulty Ice Climbing World Cup 2009. Maria Tolokonina also won the Speed event together with teammate Pavel Gulyaev.

The 8th Ice Master will take place in Valle di Daone, Italy from 16 - 25 January. With its Difficulty and Speed events, this competition marks the start of the ice Climbing World Cup 2009. The 11th edition of the La Sportiva International Ice Meeting is open to all and...

The sixth and final stage of the Lead World Cup 2008 took place in Slovenia's Kranj last weekend and was won by Johanna Ernst from Austria, ahead of Maja Vidmar and Akiyo Noguchi. Klemen Becan from Slovenia won the men's event, ahead of Jorg Verhoeven and Patxi Usobiaga. Ernst and...

The fifth stage of the Lead World Cup took place in Puurs, Belgium last weekend and was won by Maja Vidmar and Ramón Julian Puigblanque. The two beat Mina Markovic and Johanna Ernst and Tomasz Mrazek and Jorg Verhoeven, second and third respectively.

The fourth stage of the Lead World Cup 2008 took place in Imst, Austria on 20/09/08 and was won by David Lama and Mina Markovic