World Climbing Series is a competition climbing event series held during the year at various locations around the world, organized by World Climbing. At each event, the athletes compete in three disciplines: lead, bouldering, and speed. The number of events varies from year to year, and the winners for each discipline are decided by the points accumulated in the year.
| World Climbing Series | |
|---|---|
 Competition logo | |
| Seasons | |
| Disciplines | |
| Most gold medals | |
 Janja Garnbret (49) | |
| Most titles | |
 Sandrine Levet (10) Janja Garnbret (10) |
Previously called the IFSC World Cup, the first season was held in 1989 and included only lead competition climbing events. Speed climbing was introduced in 1998, and bouldering in 1999. For 18 seasons, from 1989 to 2006, World Cups were held under the auspices of the International Council for Competition Climbing which was part of the UIAA; they were called UIAA Climbing World Cups. Since 2007, they have been held under the auspices of World Climbing, known as the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) until 2025. [1]
The competition was renamed from IFSC World Cup to World Climbing Series in December 2025, as part of IFSC's rebranding to World Climbing.[2]
Athlete eligibility
editEach country has a base quota of two athletes per gender per discipline for each event, plus a variable quota of up to four athletes based on the number of athletes ranked in the top 40 in a category. There is also a host country quota, with a maximum of six athletes per gender per discipline for each event.[3] Before 2015, any athlete ranked in the top 10 was guaranteed a spot and did not count toward the quota.[4]
Scoring system
editThis section needs to be updated. (June 2022) |
Individual disciplines
editAt the end of each World Climbing Series competition, a trophy is awarded to the winner, the top three athletes are awarded gold, bronze, and silver medals, and the top six athletes are awarded prize money. The top 80 competitors of individual World Cup competitions are eligible to accrue points. Tied competitors are awarded the average of the points allocated for the tied rank positions, rounded down to two decimal places.[5]
| Ranking | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| Points | 1000 | 805 | 690 | 610 | 545 | 495 | 455 | 415 | 380 | 350 | 325 | 300 | 280 | 260 | 240 |
| Ranking | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
| Points | 220 | 205 | 185 | 170 | 155 | 145 | 130 | 120 | 105 | 95 | 84 | 73 | 63 | 56 | 48 |
| Ranking | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44-45 | 46 |
| Points | 42 | 37 | 33 | 30 | 27 | 24 | 21 | 19 | 17 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 10 |
| Ranking | 47-48 | 49-50 | 51-53 | 54-56 | 57-59 | 60-63 | 64-68 | 69-74 | 75-80 |
| Points | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
For each discipline (lead, bouldering and speed), the points awarded to each athlete are added together throughout the World Cup series in order to determine an overall World Climbing Series ranking. If an athlete participates in all competitions in a discipline, their worst result is discarded (provided that World Climbing organizes at least 6 competitions for that season). At the end of the season, the athlete with highest ranking in each discipline will be considered to be the overall winner of the World Climbing Series, and will be awarded a trophy. The athletes ranking second and third will be awarded a plate.[5]
National team ranking
editAt the end of each competition, a national team ranking is determined, for each discipline, by adding the ranking points of the three highest ranked individual team members. For each discipline (lead, bouldering and speed), the points awarded to each team are added together throughout the World Climbing Series in order to determine the overall team ranking. If a team participates in all competitions in a discipline, its worst result is discarded (provided that World Climbing organizes at least six competitions for that season). At the end of the season, the team with highest overall ranking is awarded a trophy.
Combined ranking
edit| Discipline | Overall score | Overall ranking |
|---|---|---|
| Lead | 665 | 1 |
| Bouldering | 470 | 2 |
| Speed | 0 | — |
| Combined | 1135 | 1 |
For each season, results obtained by each athlete across events and across disciplines (Lead, Bouldering and Speed) are considered to determine a combined ranking. At the end of the season, prizes are awarded to the top three athletes. The combined title was first introduced in 1998, together with the first speed event.[6] Bouldering was introduced in the following year.
From 1998 to 2017, the combined score for each athlete was obtained by adding together the overall World Cup scores obtained by that athlete in at least two different disciplines. For instance, in 2017 Janja Garnbret won the combined title with a combined score of 1135 points, which was the sum of the overall scores she obtained in Lead and Bouldering. Since she competed in no Speed event, her score in that discipline was zero.
| Discipline | Selected event | Rankings | |
|---|---|---|---|
| General | Relative | ||
| Lead | Villars | 1 | 1 |
| Arco | 1 | 1 | |
| Bouldering | Meringen | 4 | 3 |
| Munich | 3 | 2 | |
| Speed | Wujiang | 27 | 2 |
| Xiamen | 26 | 4 | |
| Product of relative rankings | 48 | ||
Since 2018, more complex rules were applied to determine the combined score.[7] Only athletes participating in at least two competitions in each discipline (i.e. 2 in Bouldering, 2 in Lead, and 2 in Speed) were eligible for the combined title. For each World Cup event, rankings were adjusted by discarding non-eligible athletes. Since they were relative to a selected subset of athletes (the eligible ones), these adjusted rankings were called relative rankings, as opposed to the general rankings applied to the whole set of participants. If an eligible athlete participated in more than two competitions in a discipline, only the best two results in that discipline were considered. For each eligible athlete, the relative rankings obtained in the selected six events were multiplied together to determine a combined score. Athletes were ranked according to their combined score in ascending order. Namely, the athlete with the lowest score was awarded the combined title. For instance, in 2018 Jakob Schubert won the Combined World Cup with a score of 48 points, determined as shown in the table.
In 2019, individual combined events were introduced in the World Cup series, where participants are required to compete in all disciplines (Bouldering, Lead and Speed) and medals are awarded based on their combined results.[8] Nevertheless, at the end of the season, combined World Cup rankings will be determined as well, with the same method applied in 2018, based on results across disciplines obtained by each athlete in six selected events.
Men's results
editComplete rankings starting from the 1991 season are available on the IFSC web site.[9]
Lead
edit
Bouldering
editSpeed
editCombined
editWomen's results
editComplete rankings starting from the 1991 season are available on the IFSC web site.[9]
Lead
editBouldering
editSpeed
editCombined
editSeason podium table
editUpdated after season 2025
Men's Category
edit| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | France (FRA) | 23 | 15 | 18 | 56 |
| 2 |  Austria (AUT) | 14 | 14 | 8 | 36 |
| 3 |  Japan (JPN) | 14 | 11 | 23 | 48 |
| 4 |  Russia (RUS) | 13 | 22 | 15 | 50 |
| 5 |  Czech Republic (CZE) | 9 | 9 | 9 | 27 |
| 6 |  Ukraine (UKR) | 6 | 6 | 7 | 19 |
| 7 |  Poland (POL) | 6 | 1 | 4 | 11 |
| 8 |  Spain (ESP) | 5 | 7 | 3 | 15 |
| 9 |  Italy (ITA) | 4 | 7 | 6 | 17 |
| 10 |  Indonesia (INA) | 4 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
| 11 | Slovenia (SLO) | 3 | 0 | 5 | 8 |
| 12 |  Great Britain (GBR) | 3 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| 13 |  Canada (CAN) | 2 | 5 | 2 | 9 |
| 14 |  Netherlands (NED) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
 South Korea (KOR) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | |
| 16 |  United States (USA) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
| 17 |  Germany (GER) | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 18 |  China (CHN) | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| 19 |  Iran (IRN) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 20 |  Switzerland (SUI) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Totals (20 entries) | 113 | 110 | 112 | 335 | |
Women's Category
edit| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | France (FRA) | 23 | 16 | 19 | 58 |
| 2 | Slovenia (SLO) | 18 | 14 | 12 | 44 |
| 3 | Russia (RUS) | 13 | 19 | 19 | 51 |
| 4 | Austria (AUT) | 12 | 6 | 11 | 29 |
| 5 | United States (USA) | 12 | 2 | 10 | 24 |
| 6 | Japan (JPN) | 8 | 16 | 12 | 36 |
| 7 | Ukraine (UKR) | 7 | 7 | 6 | 20 |
| 8 | South Korea (KOR) | 6 | 11 | 3 | 20 |
| 9 | Poland (POL) | 5 | 4 | 5 | 14 |
| 10 |  Belgium (BEL) | 5 | 4 | 3 | 12 |
| 11 | Great Britain (GBR) | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| 12 | China (CHN) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 13 | Italy (ITA) | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| 14 | Indonesia (INA) | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Switzerland (SUI) | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 | |
| 16 |  Australia (AUS) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Totals (16 entries) | 114 | 109 | 113 | 336 | |
Medal table
editUpdated after Guiyang 2025 [dubious – discuss]
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | France (FRA) | 181 | 176 | 184 | 541 |
| 2 | Russia (RUS) | 158 | 173 | 163 | 494 |
| 3 | Austria (AUT) | 115 | 85 | 78 | 278 |
| 4 | Slovenia (SLO) | 99 | 75 | 58 | 232 |
| 5 | Japan (JPN) | 89 | 117 | 113 | 319 |
| 6 | United States (USA) | 58 | 59 | 55 | 172 |
| 7 | Czech Republic (CZE) | 39 | 38 | 28 | 105 |
| 8 | Poland (POL) | 38 | 33 | 30 | 101 |
| 9 | China (CHN) | 38 | 25 | 32 | 95 |
| 10 | South Korea (KOR) | 37 | 32 | 34 | 103 |
| 11 | Spain (ESP) | 36 | 40 | 26 | 102 |
| 12 | Ukraine (UKR) | 35 | 33 | 47 | 115 |
| 13 | Great Britain (GBR) | 28 | 24 | 27 | 79 |
| 14 | Italy (ITA) | 27 | 44 | 38 | 109 |
| 15 | Belgium (BEL) | 25 | 29 | 19 | 73 |
| 16 | Indonesia (INA) | 21 | 24 | 26 | 71 |
| 17 | Germany (GER) | 17 | 22 | 27 | 66 |
| 18 | Switzerland (SUI) | 12 | 14 | 27 | 53 |
| 19 | Iran (IRI) | 6 | 2 | 6 | 14 |
| 20 | Canada (CAN) | 5 | 15 | 14 | 34 |
| 21 |  Venezuela (VEN) | 5 | 2 | 3 | 10 |
| 22 | Netherlands (NED) | 4 | 9 | 16 | 29 |
| 23 |  Singapore (SGP) | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 24 |  Israel (ISR) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 25 |  Hungary (HUN) | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 26 |  Kazakhstan (KAZ) | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 27 |  Soviet Union (URS) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 28 |  Serbia (SRB) | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 29 |  Norway (NOR) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
 Sweden (SWE) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
| 31 | Australia (AUS) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 Bulgaria (BUL) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Finland (FIN) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Hong Kong (HKG) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Totals (34 entries) | 1,075 | 1,079 | 1,064 | 3,218 | |
See also
editReferences
edit- ↑ "IFSC - Our Story". ifsc-climbing.org. Retrieved 2025-03-24.
- ↑ Pullan, Brandon (December 10, 2025). "The IFSC Has Changed Their Name to World Climbing". Gripped. Retrieved 2026-03-11.
- ↑ "Will new World Cup quota system dampen Japan's dominance?". LaCrux.com. 21 December 2024. Retrieved 2025-03-24.
- ↑ "How Countries Select Athletes for the 2025 IFSC World Cup Season". Inside Climbing. 15 January 2025. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
- 1 2 "Rules 2024" (PDF). January 2024. Retrieved 2025-03-24.
- 1 2 3 Before 1998, the World Cup consisted only of lead climbing competitions. In 1998, for the first time a speed event was introduced, which was held in Beauregard (Italy). A combined title was also awarded. However, only 3 women and 2 men competed in both disciplines and hence met the requirements to be ranked for the combined title.
- ↑ "IFSC Rules modifications 2018" (PDF). ifsc-climbing.org. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 May 2019. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
- ↑ "IFSC Rules modifications 2019" (PDF). ifsc-climbing.org. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 May 2019. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
- 1 2 "IFSC Climbing Result Service". ifsc.results.info.
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 1991 Lead".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 1992 Lead".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 1993 Lead".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 1994 Lead".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 1995 Lead".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 1996 Lead".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 1997 Lead".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 1998 Lead".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 1999 Lead".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2000 Lead".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2001 Lead".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2002 Lead".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2003 Lead".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2004 Lead".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2005 Lead".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2006 Lead".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2007 Lead".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2008 Lead".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2009 Lead".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2010 Lead".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2011 Lead".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2012 Lead".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2013 Lead".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2014 Lead".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2015 Lead".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2016 Lead".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2017 Lead".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2018 Lead".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2019 Lead".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2021 Lead".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2022 Lead".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2023 Lead".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2024 Lead".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2025 Lead".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 1999 Boulder".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2000 Boulder".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2001 Boulder".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2002 Boulder".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2003 Boulder".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2004 Boulder".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2005 Boulder".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2006 Boulder".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2007 Boulder".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2008 Boulder".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2009 Boulder".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2010 Boulder".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2011 Boulder".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2012 Boulder".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2013 Boulder".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2014 Boulder".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2015 Boulder".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2016 Boulder".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2017 Boulder".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2018 Boulder".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2019 Boulder".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2021 Boulder".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2022 Boulder".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2023 Boulder".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2024 Boulder".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2025 Boulder".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 1998 Speed".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 1999 Speed".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2000 Speed".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2001 Speed".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2002 Speed".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2003 Speed".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2004 Speed".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2005 Speed".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2006 Speed".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2007 Speed".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2008 Speed".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2009 Speed".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2010 Speed".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2011 Speed".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2012 Speed".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2013 Speed".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2014 Speed".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2015 Speed".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2016 Speed".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2017 Speed".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2018 Speed".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2019 Speed".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2021 Speed".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2022 Speed".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2023 Speed".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2024 Speed".
- 1 2 "UIAA Climbing-Worldcup 2025 Speed".
External links
edit- "Results and rankings for all world cup seasons (since 1991)". ifsc.results.info.
- "Calendar of IFSC competitions". www.ifsc-climbing.org.
- "IFSC Rules". www.ifsc-climbing.org.