For a total of 12 days in August, the international climbing scene will compete at the Climbing and Paraclimbing World Championships 2023 in Bern's Postfinance Arena. Which Swiss athletes are in pole position? And which climbers from abroad are hotly traded? An overview.
The news about the 2023 World Cup will be presented by Unparallel, Petzl and Bächli Bergsport
The crème de la crème of the international climbing scene meets at the Climbing World Championships in Bern. In the following article we will show you which athletes from Switzerland you need to know and which international top shots are among the favourites.
World Cup favorites: the overview
Hope bearers from Switzerland
International favourites
These are the bearers of hope from Switzerland
Sascha Lehmann
First place at the Lead World Cup 2023 in Innsbruck, second place in Koper, first place at the World Games in Birmingham. A look into the past gives rise to the hope that Sascha Lehmann will get a medal with the home field advantage of the 2023 World Cup.
It will only become clear on the day of the competition whether all factors will play together in August 2023. One thing is already certain: the native of Burgdorf is the favorite for the Swiss team, so the expectations of Lehmann are correspondingly high.
Andrea Kümin
closed at the end of 2021 Andrea Kümin completed her studies and from then on concentrated entirely on competition climbing. The decision has paid off. At the start of the 2022 season, the Zurich native achieved a brilliant result at the IFSC Bouldering World Cup. For the first time in her career, she made it to the finals of a World Cup and came in a sensational third.
But only a few days later came the disillusionment: injury break. Kümin was only able to compete in two more international competitions in the fall. She is currently in the middle of preparatory training for Bern, because the home world championship is also her big goal.
"If I stay injury-free and healthy, I'm optimistic. I'll do everything I can to achieve my personal best in August."
Andrea Kümin
Sofya Yokoyama
For around eight years Sofya Yokoyama Part of the elite Swiss national team and caused an upset by finishing fourth at the 2022 World Games in Birmingham, USA. For the 24-year-old from Vaud it is clear: "I want to qualify for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris."
The World Championships in Bern is the most direct way to get an Olympic ticket. The three best athletes in the Bouldering & Lead discipline and the two best-placed in the Speed discipline secure participation in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
Petra Klingler
In the Swiss team, the 31-year-old undoubtedly has the most experience on the international competition stage. 2016 became Petra Klingler World champion in bouldering. In 2022 she represented Switzerland at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Whether she can build on her success in Paris 2016 in Bern is uncertain. One thing is certain, with names like Janja Garnbret, Natalia Grossman, Ai Mori and Co. there is a lot of competition.
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Jonas Utelli
The Bernese Oberlander is one of the young hopefuls of the Swiss elite national team. Last season, the 19-year-old made the switch from the youth to the Swiss elite national team - and with success.
At the first competition in the adult category, at the Continental Cup in Arco, the versatile athlete won the silver medal and climbed into the top ten in the lead climbing discipline at the World Cup in Edinburgh. Appropriately ambitious starts Jonas Utelli in the current season:
"For me, the big goal of the season is to take part in the World Cup and to perform as well as possible in lead climbing at this major event."
Jonas Utelli
Liv Egli
What is with the gentlemen Jonas Utelli is Liv Egli in the women: the great Swiss hope. At the Continental Youth Cups 2022 in Imst and Ostermundigen, the 19-year-old from Hünibach confidently secured the gold medal and was again at the top of the podium at the Continental Youth Championships in the same year. At her lead World Cup premiere in Villars, she sensationally climbed into the semi-finals and finished 19th. The signs are good for Eglis to take part in the World Championships.
International favourites
Natalia Grossman
The Slovenian Janja Garnbret has been the undisputed favorite among the women for years. She wins what there is to win. The top field has been moving for two years.
Strong young athletes like the American Natalia Grossman challenge Garnbret and contest her gold medal. Grossman was on the podium at an international competition nine times last season - more than any other athlete, with the exception of Garnbret.
Ai Mori
At the age of 19, the Japanese woman belongs Ai Mori one of the youngest athletes on the World Cup circuit - and despite her age, already one of the most successful. In 2022, after a long absence from competition, she took part in three Lead World Cups and always returned home with the gold medal.
Together with Natalia Grossman, she is like a kind of salvation for the competition, movement is finally coming back into play and at the end of the day it doesn't always say: "And the winner is Janja Garnbret."
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Adam Ondra
There is no way around the Czech Adam Ondra. For years he has been one of the strongest competitive climbers in the world in the disciplines of bouldering and lead climbing. He is also the only athlete to win both the Bouldering World Championship and the Lead World Championship in the same year. That was in 2014.
Ondra won further world championship titles at the World Championships in Paris 2016 and Hachioji 2019. There were also five silver medals and three bronze medals at world championships. Hardly any other athlete has a better chance of a podium finish than Ondra.
But the young talents are hot on his heels, as the Spaniard Alberto Ginés López impressively demonstrated at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo and the European Championships in Munich.
Alberto Gines Lopez
Tomoa Narasaki, Jakob Schubert and Adam Ondra. They were all considered the top favorites for the gold medal at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, all forecasts put on the top shots, but nobody on the young Spanish talent Alberto Gines Lopez.
Even if the luck factor played into his hands in Tokyo, it cannot be denied that the 20-year-old shines time and time again at the really big competitions. Most recently at the 2022 European Championships in Munich, where he finished third in the combined format.
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Credits: Cover picture Leo Zhukov/IFSC
