Russia lost its scheduled Moscow stop on the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) World Cup Tour in the wake of its war on Ukraine. The IFSC rescheduled the stop to Italy and handed out several suspensions.
Responding quickly to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, the IFSC canceled all its events in the country for 2022. The organization emerged from recent General Assembly meetings in Salt Lake City, with rescheduling plans and suspensions on the docket.
The 2022 Boulder World Cup event, initially scheduled for Moscow on April 1-3, now will take place June 10-12 in Brixen, Italy. The IFSC has also decided to suspend Russia and Belarus as member federations until further notice and suspend its own Ethics Commission for overstepping its authority.
Moscow World Cup Stops Rescheduled
The IFSC Boulder World Cup will be Italy’s first IFSC event since the 2019 Youth World Championships in Arco.
IFSC President Marco Scolaris thanked Italy’s Federazione Arrampicata Sportiva Italiana (FASI) for taking prompt action to make the adjustment.
“We are very happy that we have been able to find a replacement host for the Boulder World Cup event. I have no doubt that this event will be a great success, and I want to thank our National Federation in Italy for stepping in at short notice,” Scolaris said in a statement.
FASI VP Ernesto Scarperi echoed Scolaris’ gratitude to local organizers and expressed his confidence that the “state of the art Climbing Center in Brixen, and the international experience gained in the past few years” will facilitate a worthy competition.
IFSC Suspends Russia, Belarus, Ethics Commission
However, not all the news that came out of the IFSC early this week was so complimentary.
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IFSC members at the Salt Lake City meetings suspended Russia and Belarus due to their nations’ actions toward Ukraine. The organization directed its executive board to continually review the situation and re-admit both countries when and if circumstances allow.
Also, it suspended its internal Ethics Commission due to an argument started by Ethics Chair Marc Le Menestrel.
The IFSC made details of the dispute available in broad strokes only. In a statement, it said members accused the Ethics Commission of “overstepping its remit and interfering in the Federation’s governance and ordinary course of business.”
Ultimately, it found that the Commission communicated “false and unfounded” information directly to national federations. As a result of that ruling, it suspended all current members of the Commission and the Commission itself. It plans to restructure the Commission with new “regulations and composition.” Leveraging independent experts and its internal review, it intends to appoint a new committee as soon as it can.
When asked to clarify the nature of the incident, the IFSC said it would not comment further.
The 2022 IFSC Climbing World Cup Tour kicks off with a bouldering competition in Meiringen, Switzerland, on April 8-10.
