Sport climbing

Sport climbing has three disciplines: speed — racing up a standard 15-metre wall, bouldering — solving hard movement "puzzles" on low walls without a rope, and lead — climbing as high as possible on a tall wall with a rope.

History

Rock climbing grew out of mountaineering; the first competitions were held in the mid-twentieth century, and contests on artificial walls spread across Europe in the 1980s. The International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) was founded in 2007. Sport climbing debuted at Tokyo 2020; at Paris 2024 speed was a separate event while boulder and lead were combined.

Major competitions

The Olympic Games, the IFSC World Championships and World Cup series and the European and Asian Championships.

Climbing in the Turkic world

Geyikbayırı near Antalya, with thousands of routes on its limestone cliffs, is one of the world's best-known sport-climbing areas. The Tian Shan mountains of Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan — with peaks such as Khan Tengri and Jengish Chokusu (Pobeda) — are dream goals for mountaineers, and climbing schools and indoor walls are multiplying in these countries.