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Some Canadians Can Compete at Salt Lake City World Cup

Canada's two Olympic-qualified climbers, Sean McColl and Alannah Yip, are two of five given the green light

Canada’s two Olympic-qualified climbers, Sean McColl and Alannah Yip, will be allowed to travel to Salt Lake City, Utah, to compete at the IFSC World Cups in May. They’ll be part of a group of Canadians that include Allison Vest, Oscar Baudrand and Ethan Pitcher, who all currently reside in the U.S.A.

The Canadian Government is not currently recommending international travels, and has imposed strict international travel restrictions. The Salt Lake City World Cup was previously held in Vail, Colorado. Watch highlights of McColl in 2016 below.

The CEC, Canada’s national competition organization, said, “If the above athletes ultimately choose to attend the Salt Lake City World Cups, they will be attending the event(s) on their own accord. No CNR points, nor CEC financial or human resources, will be allocated. The athletes will have to follow the strict Canadian guidelines upon return to Canada, including completing a 14 days quarantine.”

Last week, McColl shared his thoughts about the upcoming World Cup in Switzerland, which included concerns about climber safety and the high cost of travelling in and out of Canada at this time. Read below

A CEC press release said: With considerations to the evolution of the coronavirus pandemic, CEC announces that a formal team of Canadian athletes and coaches will not be attending the two IFSC events scheduled in May 2021. In making this decision, the CEC High Performance team applied the previously announced International Competition Assessment Process, the details of which were announced on March 12, 2021, and determined that it was not safe or meaningful to send a formal Canadian Team to the Salt Lake City World Cup events. In applying the International Competition Assessment Process, the CEC staff applied Own the Podium’s “Event Return to Competition Risk Assessment and Mitigation Checklist Tool” and considered multiple factors.

Own The Podium and Sport Canada currently recommend that only athletes qualified for Tokyo 2021, or in the process of qualifying for Tokyo 2021 or Beijing 2022, should attend international competitions. 

There will not be a “bubble” system in place in Salt Lake City that would guarantee the athletes’ and support personnel’s safety while attending the World Cup event. Vaccines are not generally available to Canadian high performance athletes and support personnel at this time. In accordance with CEC’s previously announced International Competition Assessment Process, CEC entertained individual requests from athletes whose circumstances are different from the general Canadian situation or a formal Canadian team. Some exemptions have been granted based on location of the athletes, vaccine availability, and training opportunities in preparation for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Vail 2016

 

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