On the 29th, the 2013 China Datong·Qinghai Plateau International Rock Climbing Elite Competition kicked off.
This event was jointly organized by the Mountaineering Sports Management Center of the General Administration of Sport of China, the Chinese Mountaineering Association, and the Qinghai Provincial Sports Bureau. A total of 44 world-class rock climbing athletes from five countries and regions — the United States, Poland, Mexico, France, and China — participated in the competition. The event featured four disciplines: men's and women's difficulty and speed climbing.
It is understood that this competition set up 500 new climbing holds, 30 volume holds, and 2 new speed climbing routes, making the difficulty level higher than that of the IFSC Climbing World Cup. Among them, athletes from Mexico, France, and Poland are competing in Qinghai for the first time; they are either champions of the IFSC Climbing World Cup or have achieved rankings at the IFSC Climbing World Championships. This is also the largest international professional rock climbing competition ever held in Qinghai Province.
On the day of the competition, preliminary rounds for men's and women's difficulty and speed climbing were held, with the top 8 athletes in each discipline advancing to the finals on the 30th.
Yang Pei, Deputy Director of the Qinghai Provincial Sports Bureau, introduced that since 2006, Qinghai has successfully hosted six IFSC Climbing World Cups and one IFSC Climbing World Championship. According to IFSC regulations, a venue can only host the World Cup for two or three times before it must be moved elsewhere. In recognition of Qinghai’s contributions to the sport of rock climbing, the Mountaineering Sports Management Center of the General Administration of Sport of China intends to continue holding climbing competitions in Qinghai. This international elite rock climbing competition will help promote the development of rock climbing in China.