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Ice Climbing Isn’t an Olympic Sport but Ski Ballet Was

The UIAA Ice Climbing World Cup just took place in Cheongsong, North Korea, during the opening weekend of the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Despite the UIAA’s best efforts, the sport of ice climbing has not been accepted as an Olympics sport yet. But a recent report stated that it looks like the 2022 Olympics will feature ice climbing.

No Canadians advanced to Semis in this route of the Ice Climbing World Cup. You can see full results here.

The next World Cup is on March 2 in Kirov, Russia, and a number of Canadians will be there.

Canadian Results in Cheongsong 2018
Nathan Kutcher 19th in Male Group 1
Noah Beek 10th in Male Group 2
David Bouffard 13th in Male Group 1
Rebecca Lewis 30th in Female

During this first week of Winter Olympics, instead of celebrating ice climbing as an official Olympic sport, we’ll look back at the 1988 Winter Olympics when ski ballet (officially called acroski) took place.

Here’s Hermann Reitberger showing off the skills at the Canada Olympic Park in Calgary.

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