Youth at 2026 Worlds
Arco, here we go!
Earlier this year, some of our Portside Youth qualified to be part of the Australian Youth World Championship team. The team then headed to Arco, Italy for the 2026 Youth World Climbing Championships.
Accompanied by parents, family members and Portside's head coach Ashley Thomas - Sophie and Esther Kingwell and Mella Gannon made their way over to Arco to compete in qualifications, battling against over 750 young climbers from 69 different nations. The competition covered three core climbing disciplines - Boulder, Lead and Speed in the U17 and U19 levels.
A day to remember
The Australian team got to meet climbing legend, Adam Ondra, who served as a guest supervisor and host for segments of the competition.
While no Portside youth made it to Semi-finals this year, it's still an amazing effort to have made it to the World stage. Check out the Live Stream from the entire event on the World Climbing Youtube channel. Allez!