World Climbing

Sport climbing’s international governing body was founded as the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) on 27 January 2007. This new organization had separated from the Union internationale des associations d’alpinisme (UIAA) in that same year, and was created as a continuation of the International Council for Competition Climbing (ICCC), which had been established in 1997. By the time the IFSC was founded, World Championships in sport climbing had already been held since Frankfurt 1991 (then under the wing of the UIAA).

The sport’s first contact with the Olympic world came through the Youth Summer Olympics of Buenos Aires 2018. Sport climbing then débuted at the Olympics at Tokyo 2020, with one event for each gender. This number grew to four events (two for each gender) at Paris 2024, and Los Angeles 2028 will bring a record six Olympic climbing events (three for each gender).

On 10 December 2025, the IFSC was completely rebranded as World Climbing. As of January 2026, the federation has 102 affiliated national federations. World Climbing’s headquarters is located in Torino, Italy, and its current president is Marco Maria Scolaris (ITA).

The discipline of Para climbing is also governed by World Climbing. In March 2024, the Organizing Committee of the Paralympic Games LA28 proposed to add Para climbing to the programme of the Paralympics, a proposal that was finally ratified on 26 June 2024 by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).