Denver to Host 2025 IFSC Speed Climbing World Cup

Denver will host a Speed Climbing World Cup as part of an American doubleheader of events with Salt Lake City, announced the International Federation for Sport Climbing.

The Denver speed climbing event will be May 31–June 1, the first time the region has hosted an IFSC World Cup event. It comes after Salt Lake hosts a boulder event from May 23–25.

“We could not be more thrilled to partner with the IFSC to host a Climbing World Cup,” said Kourtny Garrett, president and chief executive officer of the Downtown Denver Partnership. “As an epicenter for outdoor recreation and the economic hub for the Rocky Mountain West, the opportunity to host an event like this is synonymous with our ethos. All of us in Denver are incredibly proud to welcome the IFSC, its athletes and a global audience to our city this summer.”

Denver’s event is going to be the sixth speed competition on the 2025 schedule, joining stops in Wujiang, China; Indonesia; Krakow, Poland; Chamonix, France and Klagenfurt, Austria.

“The strategy we initiated together with our National Federations is to spread Sport Climbing further and by welcoming Denver among our organisers we are achieving this goal, as well as adding another top-tier stop to our World Cup calendar,” said IFSC President Marco Scolaris.

The U.S. has hosted 20 IFSC World Cup events since 2008; Vail hosted events from 2008 through 2019 and Salt Lake City has hosted events since 2021 along with Boulder (2011) and Atlanta (2012). Team USA at the 2024 Olympic Summer Games in Paris finished with two medals, Brooke Raboutou winning silver in women’s boulder and lead and Samuel Watson won bronze in men’s speed.