Para-climbing is open to athletes with a physical or vision impairment. Athletes are required to submit medical reports and meet the minimum impairment criteria in order to compete. Eligibility is determined by trained Classifiers.
For more information on Eligible Impairments and Classification please see the Para-climbing Information Sheet (PDF)
An accessible Word version can be found here: Para-climbing Information Sheet (Word)
Para-Climbing makes its debut at the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympic Games.
In competitive Para-climbing, athletes climb 15 – 20m high walls of varying angles with plastic holds secured to the wall to create routes. The routes athletes climb are unique for each competition. Route setters will design the climbs specifically for each sport class. Athletes climb with a rope attached to their harness and anchored to two places on the wall to minimise how far they fall and swing when they come off the wall. This ensures high safety for competitors.
The goal is to achieve the highest point possible in a single attempt, with a maximum of 6 minutes for each route. Climbers will climb 2 qualification routes, and a finals route is climbed by the top qualifiers. Scoring is based on the highest point reached on the climbing wall. In qualifications, climbers view their routes on a pre-recorded video and can watch other athletes climb. In the final, athletes cannot watch other climbers competing and only preview the route briefly. In the event of a tie in height, countback to qualification rankings and then time taken to complete the attempt are used to determine the final ranking.
Competitors may use a variety of equipment to assist them to climb, including prosthetics and specialised harnesses. Athletes with visual impairment use radio communication with a sight guide to assist with navigation on the climbing wall.
This is a basic summary of the Rules and Equipment for Para-climbing. For more information, please refer to the IFSC Rules provided by International Federation Sport Climbing.
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