The International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) announced the reallocation of one stop on the Boulder World Cup schedule from Moscow to Brixen, Italy. The move comes after the sport climbing federation suspended Russia as a member in wake of the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Boulder World Cup event originally scheduled for April 1-3, 2022 in Moscow, was rescheduled for June 10-12, 2022 in Brixen. It will be the first time in four years that an IFSC World Cup competition is held in Italy.
IFSC President Marco Scolaris stated, “we are very happy we have been able to find a replacement host for the Boulder World Cup event. I have no doubt this event will be a great success and I want to thank our National Federation in Italy for stepping in at short notice.”
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has forced international sports organizations around the world to take action in order to protect the viability and integrity of their competitions and activities. Russia and Belarus have continued to face increasing sanctions for their role in the invasion, while international federations have scrambled to support Ukrainian athletes in search of refuge and training opportunities.
The IFSC have floated various ideas to support Ukrainian climbers, such as waiving the annual fee paid by national federations for the Ukrainian Mountaineering and Climbing Federation (UMF), and dropping the registration fees paid by athletes when they enter IFSC events.
Meanwhile, climbers representing Russia and Belarus have been barred from competing at IFSC events for the time being. They have also been shutout of two of the sport’s high profile appearances at major multi-sports events this year.
Organizers of both the European Championships and The World Games have announced Russian and Belarusian athletes will be barred from participating in their events scheduled to be held later this year. However, it remains unclear if Ukrainian athletes will be able to compete at either event.
While the logistics of participation in international sporting events are undoubtedly tough for athletes from the besieged Eastern European nation, its worth noting that Ukrainian delegations have entered major events such as the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympics and Winter European Youth Olympic Festival since the invasion of Ukraine began.