The First Members of Canada’s Olympic Squad Announced
With the Paris Olympics coming up next summer, Canada's Olympic and National Squads are shaping up
Photo by: Daniel Gajda
Climbing Escalade Canada (CEC) recently announced the first members of its Paris Olympic Squad and National Squad. CEC is the national governing body for competition climbing in Canada, as recognized by the Canadian Olympic Committee and the IFSC. The Olympic and National Squads are divisions within CEC’s High Performance Program, an elite group of selected athletes training to represent Canada in IFSC World Cup and Olympic competition.
For the Olympic Squad, Alannah Yip has been selected for Lead & Boulder and Ethan Pitcher has been selected for Speed. Yip was on Team Canada for the Tokyo Olympics and has extensive IFSC competition experience. Pitcher is a two-time national champ and the first Canadian ever to go sub-six seconds on the speed wall.
Six other athletes have been identified as being potential Olympic Squad members, and have thus been inducted into Canada’s National Squad. They will have the chance to join the Olympic Squad after the first few World Cup events this year. These six athletes include Erica Velev, Madison Richardson, Michael Finn-Henry, Oscar Baudrand, Sean McColl, and Victor Baudrand.
The first World Cup of 2023 will be a Boulder event in Hachioji, Japan from April 21 to 23. CEC has chosen the athletes invited to participate at the event. In men’s, Oscar and Victor Baudrand will compete, as will the 2022 Canadian Nationals double champ, Guy McNamee. In women’s, Alannah Yip, Madison Richardson, Babette Roy, and Indiana Chapman have been selected to compete.
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