Dzienski, Miroslaw headline list of Sport Climbing athletes competing at European Games Krakow-Malopolska 2023

A total of 18 countries will participate in Sport Climbing at the European Games Krakow-Malopolska 2023, with France being the most represented with 11 athletes; Austria and Italy are both sending a 10-athlete contingent, while Germany, Slovenia and the host country Poland will send seven each.

The competition will take place at the Tarnow Climbing Centre and will feature six medal events in total – three per gender: men’s and women’s Boulder – each with 18 participating athletes; men’s and women’s Lead – also featuring 18 athletes each; and men’s and women’s Speed – which will see the participation of 14 and 9 athletes, respectively.

The opening day will be marked by the highly anticipated women’s Speed event, with current world record holder Aleksandra Miroslaw of Poland going up against her teammate Natalia Kalucka, and a group of World Cup regulars like Capucine Viglione of France, and Beatrice Colli and Giulia Randi of Italy.

A group of experienced, multi-decorated climbers will participate in the men’s Speed event. Home favourite and four-time World Cup gold medallist Marcin Dzienski of Poland will go up against Czech Republic’s Jan Kriz – silver medallist at the IFSC World Championships Hachioji 2019 – Italy’s Ludovico Fossali – gold medallist at Hachioji 2019 – and Ukraine’s Danyil Boldyrev – an 18-time World Cup medallist and current European champion.

The men’s and women’s Lead final are scheduled to take place on day three, and both events will see a balanced group of up-and-coming talents battle for the medal positions.

The men’s Lead event will include former Youth European champions Timo Uznik of Austria and Jonas Utelli of Switzerland, along with European Cup gold medallist Milan Preskar of Slovenia; while the women’s one will see experienced World Cup regular Ievgeniia Kazbekova of Ukraine compete up against 2016 European Youth champion Eva Marie Hammelmueller of Austria, and European Cup gold medallist Lynn Van Der Meer of the Netherlands.

Closing the programme on Sunday, 25 June will be the two Boulder finals.

After recently placing sixth at the IFSC World Cup Prague 2023, Austria’s Jan-Luca Posch will be one of the names to keep an eye on in the men’s event. World Cup semi-finalist Edvards Gruzitis of Latvia and World Cup gold medalist Gregor Vezonik of Slovenia will also be among the medal contenders.

Finally, multiple Youth Worlds medallist Lucija Tarkus of Slovenia and World Cup regulars Afra Hoenig of Germany and Sofya Yokoyama of Switzerland will headline the list of participants in the women’s Boulder event.

The complete competition schedule is as follows:

Thursday, 22 June:

18:30 – Women’s Speed qualification

19:30 – Women’s Speed final

Friday, 23 June:

11:30 – Lead semi-finals

19:15 – Men’s Speed qualification

20:20 – Men’s Speed final

Saturday, 24 June:

11:00 – Men’s Men’s Boulder semi-final

13:30 – Women’s Boulder semi-final

20:00 – Men’s Lead final