| Above: | IFSC Climbing World Championships |
| Bodyclass: | hlist nowraplinks |
| Headerstyle: | border-top: 1px solid #aaa |
| Header1: | Seasons |
| Data2: | |
| Header3: | Disciplines |
| Data4: |
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| Header5: | Most gold medals |
| Data6: | Janja Garnbret (8) |
The IFSC Climbing World Championships are the biennial (i.e. held once every two years) world championship event for competition climbing that is organized by the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC). This event determines the male and female world champions in the three disciplines of competition climbing: competition lead climbing, competition bouldering, and competition speed climbing. Since 2012, a combined ranking is also determined, for climbers competing in all disciplines, and additional medals are awarded based on that ranking. The first event was organized in Frankfurt in 1991.
In 1991, the Union Internationale des Associations d'Alpinisme (UIAA) organized the competition climbing championships. The International Council for Competition Climbing (ICC) was created in 1997 as an internal body of the UIAA to take charge of competition climbing.[1]
In 2007, the independent IFSC was created as a continuation of the ICC to govern competition climbing.
The present format has four disciplines: lead, speed, bouldering, and combined.
The first championships had two events: lead and speed. Bouldering was added in 2001.
In 2012, 2014 and 2016, a combined ranking (sometimes also called overall ranking) was computed for climbers participating in all of the three events. In 2018, a specific combined event was included which the six climbers with highest overall ranking[2] [3] were invited to enter. The combined event requires athletes to compete in all three disciplines, and they receive a single combined score based on all three results. Scores achieved in single-discipline events are not relevant to the combined score, and there are no awards for any one part of the combined event. The 2018 combined event tested the new Olympic Games format, which was used at the first appearance of climbing at the Olympics in 2020. In 2019 the Combined competition was held again with the best eight men's and women's athletes receiving invitations to the 2020 Olympics.
In 2011, the IFSC Paraclimbing World Championships were established. The event is usually held alongside the open class competition. Para athletes compete in lead only, except for 2011 when a speed climbing competition was held as well.
The World Championships are held every two years. Twice, the cycle has been moved to the other year and in those cases this was done by holding the next championship one year earlier. In 2012 the World Championships were shifted to even years to avoid interference with the 2013 World Games climbing event and to give a supplementary opportunity to demonstrate the sport for a possible integration into the 2020 Olympic Games. In 2019 the World Championships were again held one year early, to now allow the Championships to be the year before each Olympics to operate as a qualifier event.
| Edition | Year | Location | Date(s) | Disciplines | Athletes | Nations | Website | Notes | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event | Para | |||||||||||||
| 1 | 1991 |  Frankfurt | 1–2 October | 2 | X | X | - | - | - | 110 | 22 | [4] | ||
| 2 | 1993 |  Innsbruck | 29–30 April | 2 | X | X | - | - | - | 127 | 23 | [5] | ||
| 3 | 1995 |  Geneva | 5–6 May | 2 | X | X | - | - | - | 135 | 24 | [6] | ||
| 4 | 1997 |  Paris | 31 January–1 February | 2 | X | X | - | - | - | 153 | 26 | [7] | ||
| 5 | 1999 |  Birmingham | 2–3 December | 2 | X | X | - | - | - | 180 | 30 | [8] | ||
| 6 | 2001 | Winterthur | 5–8 September | 3 | X | X | X | - | - | 198 | 25 | [9] | ||
| 7 | 2003 | Chamonix | 9–13 July | 3 | X | X | X | - | - | 241 | 34 | [10] | ||
| 8 | 2005 | Munich | 1–5 July | 3 | X | X | X | - | - | 318 | 51 | [11] | ||
| 9 | 2007 |  Avilés | 17–23 September | 3 | X | X | X | - | - | 302 | 50 | [12] | ||
| 10 | 2009 |  Xining | 30 June – 5 July | 4 | X | X | X | - | - | 219 | 44 | [13] | ||
| 11 | 2011 |  Arco | 15–24 July | 4 | X | X | X | - | X | 374 | 56 | [14] | ||
| 12 | 2012 | Paris | 12–16 September | 5 | X | X | X | X | X | 331 | 56 | [15] [16] | ||
| 13 | 2014 | Munich | 21–23 August | 1 | - | - | X | - | - | 509 | 52 | http://www.alpenverein.de/Wettkampf/Boulder-WCH/ | [17] [18] | |
| Gijón | 8–14 September | 4 | X | X | - | X | X | http://med.gijon.es/ | ||||||
| 14 | 2016 | Paris | 14–18 September | 5 | X | X | X | X | X | 533 | 53 | http://worldclimbing2016.com/en/ | [19] [20] [21] | |
| 15 | 2018 | Innsbruck | 6–16 September | 5 | X | X | X | X | X | 834 | 58 | http://www.innsbruck2018.com/ | [22] [23] | |
| 16 | 2019 | Briançon | 16–17 July | 1 | - | - | - | - | X | |||||
 Hachioji | 11–21 August | 4 | X | X | X | X | - | 253 | 39 | https://jmsca-itadaki.com/s/n93w/ | [24] [25] | |||
| 17 | 2021 | Moscow | 15–21 September | 5 | X | X | X | X | X | [26] | ||||
| 18 | 2023 | Bern | 1–12 August | 5 | X | X | X | X | X | https://bern2023.org/ | ||||
| 19 | 2025 | Seoul[27] | 5 | X | X | X | X | X | ||||||
As of 2023 IFSC Climbing World Championships (excluding paraclimbing medals)
Note 1: share medals in 2007 IFSC Climbing World Championships
Note 2: one silver medal in 2021 IFSC Climbing World Championships for Climbing Federation of Russia
| 1991 | François Legrand | Yuji Hirayama | |
| 1993 | François Legrand (2) | Stefan Glowacz | Yuji Hirayama |
| 1995 | François Legrand (3) | | |
| 1997 | François Petit |  Chris Sharma | François Legrand |
| 1999 | | Yuji Hirayama |  Maksym Petrenko |
| 2001 | |  Tomáš Mrázek | François Petit |
| 2003 | Tomáš Mrázek | Patxi Usobiaga | |
| 2005 | Tomáš Mrázek (2) | Patxi Usobiaga | Alexandre Chabot |
| 2007 | Ramón Julián | Patxi Usobiaga | Tomáš Mrázek |
| 2009 | Patxi Usobiaga | Adam Ondra | David Lama |
| 2011 | Ramón Julián (2) | Jakob Schubert | Adam Ondra |
| 2012 | Jakob Schubert |  Sean McColl | Adam Ondra |
| 2014 | Adam Ondra | Ramón Julián | Sachi Amma |
| 2016 | Adam Ondra (2) | Jakob Schubert | |
| 2018 | Jakob Schubert (2) | Adam Ondra | Alexander Megos |
| 2019 | Adam Ondra (3) | Alexander Megos | Jakob Schubert |
| 2021 | Jakob Schubert (3) | Luka Potočar | Hamish McArthur |
| 2023 | Jakob Schubert (4) | Sorato Anraku | |
| 1991 | Hans Florine | |  | |
| 1993 |  | | | |
| 1995 | | | | |
| 1997 | | | | |
| 1999 | | | Alexey Gadeev | |
| 2001 | Maksym Styenkovyy | |  | |
| 2003 | Maksym Styenkovyy (2) | | | |
| 2005 | Evgeny Vaitcekhovsky | Maksym Styenkovyy | | |
| 2007 | Zhong Qixin |  | | |
| 2009 (10 m) | Zhong Qixin (2) | | | |
| 2009 (15 m)[28] | Zhong Qixin (3) | | Ning Zhang | |
| 2011 | Zhong Qixin (4) | Stanislav Kokorin | Danyil Boldyrev | |
| 2012 | Zhong Qixin (5) | | | |
| 2014 | Danyil Boldyrev | Stanislav Kokorin | Reza Alipour | |
| 2016 | Marcin Dzieński | Reza Alipour | | |
| 2018 | Reza Alipour | Bassa Mawem | Stanislav Kokorin | |
| 2019 | Ludovico Fossali | | Stanislav Kokorin | |
| 2021 | Danyil Boldyrev (2) | Erik Noya Cardona | Noah Bratschi | |
| 2023 | Matteo Zurloni | Long Jinbao | Rahmad Adi Mulyono |
| 2001 | | | Christian Core | |
| 2003 | Christian Core | Jérôme Meyer | | |
| 2005 | | Kilian Fischhuber | | |
| 2007 | Dmitri Sarafutdinov | | ||
| 2009 | Alexey Rubtsov | | | |
| 2011 | Dmitri Sarafutdinov (2) | Adam Ondra | | |
| 2012 | Dmitri Sarafutdinov (3) | Kilian Fischhuber | | |
| 2014 | Adam Ondra | Jernej Kruder | Jan Hojer | |
| 2016 | Tomoa Narasaki | Adam Ondra | Manuel Cornu | |
| 2018 | Kai Harada |  Jongwon Chon | ||
| 2019 | Tomoa Narasaki (2) | Jakob Schubert | Yannick Flohé | |
| 2021 | Kokoro Fujii | Tomoa Narasaki | Manuel Cornu | |
| 2023 | Mickael Mawem | Mejdi Schalck | Lee Do-hyun |
| 2012 | Sean McColl | |||
| 2014 | Sean McColl (2) | Jan Hojer | | |
| 2016 | Sean McColl (3) | Manuel Cornu | ||
| 2018 | Jakob Schubert | Adam Ondra | Jan Hojer | |
| 2019 | Tomoa Narasaki | Jakob Schubert | Rishat Khaibullin | |
| 2021 | Yannick Flohé | Philipp Martin | Fedir Samoilov | |
| 2023 | Jakob Schubert (2) | Colin Duffy | Tomoa Narasaki |
| 1991 | Isabelle Patissier | Robyn Erbesfield | ||
| 1993 | (2) | Robyn Erbesfield | Isabelle Patissier | |
| 1995 | Robyn Erbesfield | | Liv Sansoz | |
| 1997 | Liv Sansoz |  Muriel Sarkany | ||
| 1999 | Liv Sansoz (2) | Muriel Sarkany | | |
| 2001 | Muriel Sarkany | | ||
| 2003 | Muriel Sarkany | | Sandrine Levet | |
| 2005 | Angela Eiter | Emily Harrington | Akiyo Noguchi | |
| 2007 | Angela Eiter (2) | Muriel Sarkany | Maja Vidmar | |
| 2009 | Johanna Ernst | Kim Ja-in | Maja Vidmar | |
| 2011 | Angela Eiter (3) | Kim Ja-in | | |
| 2012 | Angela Eiter (4) | Kim Ja-in | Johanna Ernst | |
| 2014 | Kim Ja-in | Mina Markovič | | |
| 2016 | Janja Garnbret | Anak Verhoeven | Mina Markovič | |
| 2018 | Jessica Pilz | Janja Garnbret | Kim Ja-in | |
| 2019 | Janja Garnbret (2) | Mia Krampl | Ai Mori | |
| 2021 | Seo Chae-hyun | Natalia Grossman | Laura Rogora | |
| 2023 | Ai Mori | Janja Garnbret | Seo Chae-hyun |
| 1991 | | | | |
| 1993 | | | | |
| 1995 | | | | |
| 1997 | Tatiana Ruyga | Irina Zaytseva | | |
| 1999 | Olga Zakharova | | | |
| 2001 | | Maya Piratinskaya | Svetlana Sutkina | |
| 2003 | (2) | Tatiana Ruyga | Valentina Yurina | |
| 2005 | (3) | Valentina Yurina | | |
| 2007 | Tatiana Ruyga (2) | | Valentina Yurina | |
| 2009 (10 m) | He Cuilian | He Cuifang | Li Chunhua | |
| 2009 (15 m) | He Cuilian (2) | He Cuifang | Li Chunhua | |
| 2011 | Maria Krasavina | Anna Tsyganova | Tamara Kuznetsova | |
| 2012 | Yulia Levochkina | Iuliia Kaplina | Natalia Titova | |
| 2014 | Alina Gaidamakina | Klaudia Buczek | Aleksandra Rudzińska (later with last name: Mirosław) | |
| 2016 | Anna Tsyganova | Anouck Jaubert | Iuliia Kaplina | |
| 2018 | Aleksandra Mirosław | Anna Brożek | Maria Krasavina | |
| 2019 | Aleksandra Mirosław (2) | Di Niu | Anouck Jaubert | |
| 2021 | Natalia Kałucka | Iuliia Kaplina | Aleksandra Mirosław | |
| 2023 | Desak Made Rita Kusuma Dewi | Emma Hunt | Aleksandra Mirosław |
| 2001 | | Sandrine Levet | | |
| 2003 | Sandrine Levet | | | |
| 2005 | | | | |
| 2007 | Anna Stöhr | Akiyo Noguchi | Olga Bibik | |
| 2009 | | | Anna Stöhr | |
| 2011 | Anna Stöhr (2) | Sasha DiGiulian | ||
| 2012 | | | Anna Stöhr | |
| 2014 | Alex Puccio | Akiyo Noguchi | ||
| 2016 | Petra Klingler | Miho Nonaka | Akiyo Noguchi | |
| 2018 | Janja Garnbret | Akiyo Noguchi |  Staša Gejo | |
| 2019 | Janja Garnbret (2) | Akiyo Noguchi | Shauna Coxsey | |
| 2021 | Natalia Grossman | | Staša Gejo | |
| 2023 | Janja Garnbret (3) | Oriane Bertone | Brooke Raboutou |
| 2012 | Kim Ja-in | | Petra Klingler | |
| 2014 | | Petra Klingler | Mina Markovič | |
| 2016 | | | | |
| 2018 | Janja Garnbret | | Jessica Pilz | |
| 2019 | Janja Garnbret (2) | Akiyo Noguchi | Shauna Coxsey | |
| 2021 | Jessica Pilz | Mia Krampl | Elnaz Rekabi | |
| 2023 | Janja Garnbret (3) | Jessica Pilz | Ai Mori |
See main article: world championships.