Youth climbing championships.

The short version

• First held: 1992, in Basel, Switzerland, according to World Climbing. It is now held every year.
• Name: the World Climbing Youth Championship on the 2026 calendar; the 2025 edition ran as the IFSC Youth World Championships.
• Age categories: U17 and U19 since 2025, replacing U16, U18 and U20.
• Disciplines: Boulder, Lead and Speed.
• 2026 edition: Arco, Italy, 18 to 25 July 2026. Finished.

Two age groups instead of three

World Climbing announced at the start of the 2025 championships (28 July 2025) that youth events would use two age categories, U17 and U19, in place of the previous three, U16, U18 and U20. Both the 2025 and 2026 championships used the new categories.

Arco 2026

World Climbing's 2026 calendar placed the World Climbing Youth Championship in Arco, Italy, from 18 to 25 July 2026, in Boulder, Lead and Speed. USA Climbing reported more than 750 climbers from 69 nations; that figure is USA Climbing's (29 July 2026).

The results we have are partial. World Climbing's news headlines from Arco give the following, but name the winners by surname only, without categories or countries:

• 21 July 2026: Lead youth titles for Hayashi, Nakata, Deubler and Jung.
• 22 July 2026: three Speed golds for China.
• 25 July 2026: U17 Boulder golds for Kagi and Nakata.

USA Climbing gave one full podium, the U19 women's Boulder:

We have not collected the remaining podiums, so no other Arco champions are named here.

Helsinki 2025

The 2025 IFSC Youth World Championships were held in Helsinki, Finland, from 28 July to 3 August 2025, in Boulder, Lead and Speed. World Climbing said more than 600 athletes had registered, 340 men and 279 women. Boulder was held at Helsingin Kiipeilykeskus, and Lead and Speed at KiipeilyAreena Ristikko. The full Helsinki results are not in our research.

Youth athletes and the Olympics

Youth competition gave climbing its first Olympic medals. World Climbing says the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games produced the first Olympic medals in sport climbing, three years before the sport's senior debut at the Tokyo 2020 Games in 2021. The senior Olympic story is on the Olympics page.

Where youth competition fits

The BMC's timeline says bouldering was first introduced to competition in 1998, through the first Youth Climbing Series; Wikipedia and LaCrux date bouldering's arrival in the senior World Cup to 1999. World Climbing's about page also mentions Continental Cups, but gives no details of continental youth events, and we have none to report.

Youth results sit alongside the senior World Championships, held every two years, and the annual World Climbing Series. The formats are the same three disciplines, explained on how competitions work.