“There will be a never-before-seen focus on our sport”

Paraclimbing will be part of the Paralympic Summer Games for the first time in 2028 in Los Angeles. A huge success for the still young sport. Sebastian Depke is one of the driving forces behind this triumph. In an interview, he explains what this decision means for paraclimbing.

The Olympic and Paralympic Games will take place in Los Angeles in mid-August 2028. For the first time, the Paralympic Games Paraclimbing is the 23rd sport. The fact that this young sport, which is still little known outside the climbing scene, was able to prevail against its competitors is nothing short of a sensation.

Yesterday, the Governing Board of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) officially approved LA28’s application to include paraclimbing in the Paralympic sports programme. We have Sebastian Depke, himself a paraclimber and chairman of the Paraclimbing Commission, spoke about this decision and its effects.

Sebastian, paraclimbing will be part of the 2028 Paralympic Games in LA. What does that mean for paraclimbing?

As part of the Paralympics, paraclimbing will first of all be an "additional sport", just as sport climbing was in Tokyo. At the request of the local organizer LA28, we will then be part of the largest sports stage in the world alongside the 22 "program sports".

For example, I knew nothing about paraclimbing, although I had been climbing at a competitive level for years despite my disability, and it took a World Cup climber (Jernej Kruder, whom I met at Es Pontas on Mallorca) to point out to me that there was a format and a sport of my own at the highest level - and stories like this still happen today...

I expect a large influx (so-called athlete hopping between sports, quite common in the para-sports world), increased pressure to perform for the athletes and pressure to develop for the national associations. Even at the IFSC, where there was previously little focus on this, there will now be a very close look and the expectations of the IFSC and the national associations will also increase.

What does this decision mean to you personally?

For me, as the chairman of the Paraclimbing Commission, who has been working towards this for years, this is practically my Olympic medal - and I didn't expect it. 33 sports applied, 22 are included and the IPC has left it up to the organizer to decide whether they want to include para surfing and/or para climbing as an "additional sport" - and now the decision has been made in our favor!

We are the number 23 sport in LA and among the 10 excluded are very large and experienced sports, some of which have been there before and have significantly more experience than we do.

If we look a little behind the scenes: How long did the whole process of making paraclimbing an Olympic sport take – from the first ideas to the final decision?

The IFSC is still relatively young and was only founded in 2006. The first Para World Championship took place in Arco in 2011 and since then there has been a regular para competition series on the calendar. The IFSC received recognized federation status from the IPC in 2017, which means that the IFSC is the international association that the IPC considers responsible for paraclimbing.

The RF status is the first step on the way to the Paralympics and requires a development of the sport towards the IPC standards. Strategic Plan 2020-2028 The aim of developing paraclimbing into the Paralympics is clearly included and Marco Scolaris has also pushed for the application for LA28. The application is always 7 years before the games (regardless of whether it is with the IOC or IPC, slightly delayed due to Covid) but ultimately there is a lot of lead time.

Who were the driving forces behind this project?

Marco Scolaris has the vision of having sport climbing and paraclimbing on the program at the 2028 Games and has worked towards this with his staff in the IFSC office. The Paraclimbing Commission was completely rebuilt in 2019. I have been involved since then, at the time as athlete spokesperson and also chairman (internally elected), and as a commission we have brought the sport to the finish line.

What were the biggest challenges and stumbling blocks along the way?

The IPC has a large catalogue of criteria that a sport must meet in order to be included in the Games. Due to the fact that the IOC has very similar criteria, the IFSC has already met a lot of them. The only missing elements at the time were international distribution and the introduction of the IPC classification system.

The "old" classification rules were 2,5 pages long and did not meet IPC standards. During the Corona period, we had a year without competitions (2020), during which we were able to calmly work out and introduce the new IPC-based rules (now about 50 pages long), including training our own team of classifiers, whom we were able to train with the help of experts from other sports.

The first competition after that, Innsbruck 2021, meant a reclassification of the entire starting field based on the rules that were basically only created theoretically at the desk and that have been further optimized every year since then.

You are not only an athlete in the German team but also the chairman of the IFSC Paraclimbing Commission. In this role, how were you involved in ensuring that paraclimbers could compete in LA?

As chairman of the commission (an expert council made up of route setters, classifiers, athlete spokespersons, coach representatives and experts), it is my job to lead and direct the work of the commission. This means asking the right questions, connecting the right people and keeping the work on track, mediating between all the parties and keeping a clear view of the roadmap. As such, I have played a leading role behind the scenes in getting us to where we are today.

Paraclimbing made its debut with its own world championship in 2011, and will become an Olympic sport in 2028. How has the sport developed during this time?

In addition to the points already mentioned, the growth figures (participants in the largest competition of the year) have been very consistent and impressive over the years:

• 2011: 35
• 
2012: 61

• 2014: 71

• 2016: 72

• 2018: 126
• 
2019: 158
• 
2020: Covid
• 
2021: 114 (with Covid restrictions)

• 2023: 200
• 
2024: 214

Where do you want to go next, or what do you want for paraclimbing?

Further growth, more participating countries (some major climbing nations are still missing), more competitions at international, continental and national level and better financial support at all levels.

You are the creator of the site paraclimbing.org, how did this project come about and what is the idea behind it?

I'm an IT professional and registered the domain for fun before I had a bigger role in the world association. Then one day I was on the commission and thought to myself, what the IFSC is doing is good, but we need more, especially independent, because paraclimbing is more than just IFSC paraclimbing!

And it makes me happy every time I see TV presenters, press people or stadium commentators walking around with my printed website or national associations linking to it because it is “in their language”.

This is not intended to compete with the IFSC or replace the information on the IFSC website, but rather to complement it and to give the sport a larger surface and reach - which is possible with my private resources and time. I have many ideas for expansion, but unfortunately not much time at the moment.

The final vote is yours. What would you like to say to us?

Dear climbing media, spread the word of paraclimbing! It's there and it's amazing! Even if parasports confront other people with things that we would rather ignore (illness, accidents, fate, war, terror), everyone should be aware that life ends in death for everyone and that the subject of disability on the way there can and will almost certainly suddenly become an issue for you or your immediate environment.

We have a number of examples internationally... and examples, above all, of what it means to get up or continue to roll in a wheelchair, to go to the wall and do what we love: climbing. And we are taking this message out into the world - and soon even on the biggest sporting stage in the world.

Sebastian Depke

Sebastian Depke started climbing in 1998 and, before he was severely limited by ankylosing spondylitis, he did everything possible: sport climbing, first ascents, rehabilitation, technical climbing, multi-pitch routes and even getting a taste of big wall climbing.

He found his way into the German team thanks to a tip from Jernej Kruder. And so, since 2017, competitive climbing on plastic has been part of his climbing career. His palmarès includes 4 bronze medals and a 4th place at the World Championships in Bern in 2023.

In 2024, the 38-year-old wants to take part in all IFSC competitions and not only do as well as possible, but also have fun. He will travel to Innsbruck and Villars from Spain, where he lives, on a self-built solar handbike. An adventure just to his taste.

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Credits: Cover picture Slobodan Miskovic