The selections for the Swiss elite and junior national team 2025 have been completed. A total of 22 elite and U21 athletes and 21 junior climbers will represent Switzerland in competitions next year. Petra Klingler, the 2016 bouldering world champion and Olympian, is retiring at the end of the year after a long and successful competitive career.
Due to the adjustments to the age categories of the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC), seven juniors born in 2005 and 2006 were newly integrated into the elite team: Noé Looser, Jil Couture, Ladina Heller and Emilie Oberle as well as Levin Straubhaar, Romain Sabatier and Maël Marcadé. With the exception of Noé Looser (A-squad lead), all were selected for a B-squad.
men's team with leader Sascha Lehmann
The elite team in the lead discipline continues to be led by Sascha Lehmann. Jonas Utelli and Nino Grünenfelder are also in the A squad. The B squad includes the following five athletes: Dimitri Flick, Lukas Zgraggen, Maël Marcadé, Romain Sabatier and Levin Straubhaar.
Julien Clémence and Sascha Lehmann are at the top of the bouldering team in the A squad. Nils Favre, Louis Guignard, Lukas Zgraggen, Levin Straubhaar and Romain Sabatier complete the elite team in the B squad.
Women: seven experienced athletes reinforced by four U21 athletes
In bouldering, Sofya Yokoyama leads the elite team. Noé Looser, Jil Couture, Francesca Walther and Emilie Oberle were selected for the B squad. Andrea Kümin, also selected for the A squad, is expected to take a break from competition for the entire 2025 season.
The elite team in the lead discipline is led by the A-squad athletes Liv Egli and Noé Looser and reinforced by four B-squad athletes: Joëlle Niederberger and Ladina Heller as well as Michelle Hulliger and Zoé Egli, who will return to action in 2024 after a break from international competition.
After 22 years and an extraordinary career, Petra Klingler retires
The first female climbing Olympian made sports history by participating in the first Olympic Games for sport climbing. In 2021, Petra Klingler was one of only 20 athletes to take part in the premiere in Tokyo and the combination, which at the time still comprised three disciplines.
In 2016, she was crowned bouldering world champion at the World Championships in Paris-Bercy. She stood on the podium at international competitions seven more times. The 250-time Swiss champion competed in almost 29 national and international competitions in her 22-year career.
In addition to her signature discipline of bouldering, she was a Swiss pioneer in speed climbing and her record is impressive: she competed 18 times on the national stage and only failed to win once. As a figurehead and sports personality for many years, Swiss Climbing will miss her!
Category Adjustment in Youth
From 2025, the IFSC will not only introduce the U21 category, but also the U17 (born in 2009 and 2010) and U19 (born in 2007 and 2008) age categories. In addition, the IFSC has decided that only the U2025 and U17 age groups can take part in the 19 Youth World Championships.
This means that from 2025, compared to previous years, those who are 14 or 19 years old in the year of the Youth World Championships will no longer be able to take part in the event. The U21s will still be able to take part in the Youth European Championships and there will be a separate U21 ranking in the European Cup.
SAC Swiss Climbing has implemented these guidelines and now also has a U15 squad with athletes born in 2011 (14-year-olds). They are already training with the national team, but cannot yet compete in international competitions.
The nine new athletes in the junior national team are:
- Catherine Tchassanti from Flawil SG, 2007, St. Gallen section, St. Gallen regional center – U19 squad
- Sofiane Vial from Avry-devant-Pont FR, 2009, Moléson section, Center régionale Romandie centrale – U17 squad
- Tanguy Pereira from Le Lignon GE, 2009, Carougeoise section, Center régionale Genèvescalade – U17 squad
- Hannah Sieber from Gränichen AG, 2010, Section Aarau, Team Herkulis – Squad U17
- Julia Weyermann from Adlikon ZH, 2010, Winterthur section, Team Herkulis – U17 squad
- Flavia Ghilardi from Sax SG, 2011, Rätia section, Team alexwydler.training – Squad U15
- Amélie Kägi from Wintersingen BL, 2011, Baselland Section, Northwestern Switzerland Regional Center – U15 squad
- Mia Mueller from Murten FR, 2011, Murten Section, Mittelland-Jura Regional Center
- Tom Tscherrig from Sierre VS, 2011, section Monte Rosa Sion, Center regional Valais-Wallis
In total, the junior team comprises 10 female athletes and 11 male athletes.
The Speed Team: Development continues
The latest discipline to be promoted in Switzerland is speed. Under the direction of national coach Christopher Smolkovic, a number of young athletes train speed in and outside of the national team. The prerequisite for this support training group is defined times. This means that new talents can also be discovered in this way.
The current team leader is Gilles Meili, holder of the Swiss speed record over the standardized 15 m route. In 2024 he improved the mark to under 6 seconds, to 5.85 seconds.
resignations in the youth squad
After Marilu Sommer announced her retirement during the 2024 season, the following four young athletes will also be setting their focus differently in the future and will be retiring from the national team:
- Nina Hentschel from Allschwil BL (Angenstein section/Team Alexwydler.Training) is retiring after three years in the national team. Between 2018 and 2024, she stood on the top of the national podium 23 times and won 9 Swiss championship titles in all three disciplines. In addition to her many national successes, she was also celebrated twice internationally for a podium place: in 2023, she came second at the European Youth Cup in Graz (AUT) in bouldering and third at the European Youth Cup in Imst (AUT) in speed. At the European Championships in Duisburg (GER) in 2023, she took sixth place in speed in the youth B category.
- Indian summer from Chur GR (Rätia section/Graubünden regional center) has been in the national team since 2020 and has achieved several titles and podium places in these 5 years: the 18-year-old from Graubünden was Swiss bouldering champion three times, most recently in 2022. She stood on a podium at a national competition a further 13 times. Internationally, she achieved her best result in 2021 in the Youth B category with 12th place at the Bouldering European Youth Cup in Graz.
- Sarina Hartmann from Chur GR (Rätia section/Graubünden regional center) has been a member of the national team for three years since 2022. In 2019, she was U12 lead Swiss champion and took 16 more podium places on the national parquet, most recently three times in the 2024 season in the two disciplines of lead and bouldering. Internationally, Sarina achieved her best result in 2023 in the Youth B category with 11th place at the Boulder-European Youth Cup in Kaunas (LTU).
- Lenn Platteau from Binningen BL (Angenstein section/Team Les Frères Mawem) was a member of the national team in the three seasons 2022, 2023 and 2024. In 2018 he became Swiss bouldering champion in the U12 and in 2023 Swiss speed champion in the U16. In 2018 he also won a bouldering and lead competition and then 6 more podium places between 2018 and 2024. Internationally, he achieved his best results in speed, which he had specialized in over the past two years. In 2023 he finished sixth at the European Youth Cup in Hamburg and twelfth at the Youth World Championships in Seoul. In 2024, Lenn and his teammate Gilles Meili ran a Swiss record twice at the European Youth Cup in Lublin (POL): first Lenn with 6.35 seconds, followed by 6.08 seconds from Gilles Meili. (Swiss record as of December 2024: 2024 seconds by Gilles Meili since Sept. 5.85).
Para Climbing Team 2025 with the long-term goal of Los Angeles
This year, the positive decision was announced that Para Climbing will be taking part in the Paralympics for the first time in Los Angeles in 2028This year, 19 athletes were selected for the SAC Para Climbing Team.
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Credits: text SAC Swiss Climbing, cover photo Nakajima Kazushige/IFSC