The world juniors are coming to Victoria.
They still are in hockey in December.
But the other world juniors scheduled for here, which were to showcase one of the new Summer Olympic sports debuting at Tokyo 2020, are not coming.
The 2018 world junior championships in wall climbing were to have begun Tuesday at Boulders Climbing Gym in Central Saanich. They are instead taking place this week in Moscow, after Russia came forward to rescue the event this year.
Boulders, which was originally awarded the 2018 world junior championship in March of 2017, was a ready, willing and able host, local organizers said.
“The [Canadian] national federation went through many changes over the past year and were not able to complete the agreement with the [International Federation of Sport Climbing],” said Kimanda Jarzebiak, chairman of Boulders Gym.
“We were ready to go. But we’re just the facility. We can’t sign [with the international federation] on our own.”
This can only be looked as an opportunity lost, especially with the sport set to make its Olympic debut in two years at Tokyo. Many of the athletes competing in the 2018 world juniors will compete at Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028 if the sport remains on the Olympic agenda.
“I am disappointed for our local athletes because it would have been such a big event, but we will look to host at some other point in the future,” Jarzebiak said.
Boulders Gym had been a hotbed for the sport of climbing since 1993, well before its Olympic inclusion for Tokyo 2020 was announced. It hosted the IFSC world youth championships in 2013, attracting 400 athletes ages 14 to 19 from 35 countries. That event grew to 650 athletes, from nearly 50 nations, at the 2016 world youth championships in Guangzhou, China. The 2018 world juniors would have made an even bigger impact in Greater Victoria.
Regardless of having the world juniors taken away, Boulders Gym still carries a considerable reputation within the sport.
The likes of former world champions Sean McColl of North Vancouver, Adam Ondra of the Czech Republic and Mina Markovic of Slovenia, World Cup medallists Hélène Janicot of France and Maja Vidmar of Slovenia, American prodigy Kai Lightner and junior world champion Sebastian Halenke of Germany have all trained at Boulders Gym in recent years.
The Boulders Gym head coach is Czech legend Libor Hroza, former world No. 2 and world record holder in speed climbing. Nanaimo native and Boulders Gym breakout star Elan Jonas-McRae, recovering from a broken hand last fall, is touted for the Canadian Olympic team to Tokyo 2020.
Climbing walls have now sprouted up around Greater Victoria.
“The growth in the sport has been significant. The Olympics have already had an effect. Because of the Olympics, it has gone crazy,” Jarzebiak said.
“I am excited to see what happens after the world is truly exposed to our sport in two years at Tokyo. The Olympics will be sport-altering.”
The Olympic climbing disciplines are lead, speed and bouldering. The latter is what Boulders Gym, despite its name, lacks and a temporary bouldering area was planned for the junior world championship. But that gap is about to be addressed with a facility expansion to add a permanent bouldering section at Boulders Gym, expected to be announced next month, according to Jarzebiak.
