Perfect Descent Sponsors Historic IFSC Climbing World Championships in Hachioji, Japan

August 20, 2019 marked a historic moment in competition Sport Climbing as the first-ever Olympic climbers were confirmed during the Combined Finals in Hachioji, Japan.  This first ever Olympic Qualifying event followed more than a week of competition with over 253 athletes from 39 countries battling to take home the World Champion title in Lead, Bouldering, and Speed disciplines.  The top 20 women and men from the World Championship competition were selected to participate in the Olympic Combined Finals. When the dust settled, 7 climbers from each gender had secured their ticket to the debut of Olympic Sport Climbing at the 2020 Games in Tokyo, Japan. 

The first day of the Olympic Combined Finals saw women locked in an intense battle to land at the top of the leader board.  Despite a slip, Aleksandra Miroslaw of Poland reached the buzzer ahead of Great Britain’s Shauna Coxey to take first place on the Speed Wall.  Akiyo Noguchi of Japan dominated in Bouldering taking top position followed closely by Janja Garnbret of Slovenia, who landed in second position with a flash on W2. Janja Garnbret attacked the lead wall making the top and taking first place in the round.  At the end of the Qualifier, Janja Garnbret landed in the number one position and will be joined by Akiyo Noguchi, Shauna Coxey, Aleksandra Miroslaw, Miho Nanaka, Petra Klinger, and Brooke Raboutou as the first women to represent their countries as Olympic climbers.

The action continued the following day as the men put on a thrilling Combined event fighting for their ticket to the 2020 Olympic Games.  Rishat Khaibullin of Kazakhstan set a blazing time of 5.915 to take top place on the Speed Wall with Japan’s own Tomoa Narasaki falling part way up the wall to come in second.  Tomoa Narasaki made up for his slip on the Speed Wall with three tops in Bouldering landing him first place with his brother Meichi Narasaki taking second position.  Austria’s Jakob Shubert was first on the Lead Wall, first and only to top, and ultimately took first position in the Lead category landing himself a spot on the final podium. 

In the end, four Japanese climbers landed in the top 7 and with only two spots per country up for grabs, only Narasaki was confirmed for Tokyo 2020.  This clears the way for Perfect Descent Athlete Sean McColl representing Canada, along with Italy’s Ludovico Fossali and Germany’s Alexander Megos (all top 10 finishers in the combined event) to be confirmed as Olympic atheltes.  The final men’s field qualifies an Olympic spot for Japan’s Tomoa Narasaki who is joined by Jakob Shubert, Rishat Khaibullin, Mickael Mawem, Alexander Megos, Ludovico Fossali, and Sean McColl.

If you missed the action, you can watch replays of the action from each day of the World Championships via the IFSC YouTube Channel.  For a complete schedule of events, visit the official IFSC Climbing World Championship webpage and join the conversation on Twitter using the #IFSCwch hashtag.

Sponsorship is an important part of the Perfect Descent’s mission to make a positive impact on the sport of climbing.  We are excited to sponsor IFSC World Cup competition and the 2019 World Climbing Championships in Hachioji, Japan. Perfect Descent Auto Belays are a critical tool in reducing risk and promoting a fair field-of-play in climbing competitions and fulfill an important role in helping break down barriers for new climbers while creating purposeful opportunities for experienced climbers in climbing gyms around the world.