USA Climbing National Team Trials and Paraclimbing National Championships to Be Held in Maryland

USA Climbing has announced that the USA Climbing National Team Trials and Paraclimbing National Championships will be combined into one National Team-qualifying event for the Elite and Paraclimbing series for the 2024 season- and they’ll both be held in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

Per USA Climbing: “This is the second year in which these events will be hosted in the same location, both being hosted at Sportrock Climbing Center’s newest facility in Gaithersburg, MD, March 5-10. The National Team Trials will be the second and final selection event for the Elite series whereas the Paraclimbing Nationals is the sole selection event for the Paraclimbing series. By the conclusion of both events, top athletes will be designated to represent the U.S. at international World Cup and Paraclimbing World Cup events sanctioned by the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC).

This year’s National Team Trials event will be held on March 5-8, highlighting all three climbing disciplines: Boulder, Lead and Speed and the stakes could never be higher. The top two (2) ranked U.S. athletes after the conclusion of this event will join those athletes who are already selected to the U.S. National Team in 2024. Athletes from the newly formed National Team will begin their quest of competing on the IFSC World Cup circuit, some with the opportunity of competing at the Olympic Qualifying Series in search of the two (2) remaining Olympic quota spots for Team USA.

“Sportrock is ecstatic to be partnering with USA Climbing once again to showcase climbing at the highest level,” said Jeffrey Shor, Director of Marketing for Sportrock. “We are committed to facilitating the progression of the sport in all aspects. This is why we built the Sportrock Performance Institute in 2020, and invested in full 15m speed lanes with IFSC regulation holds. It’s why we are so dedicated to our youth teams and to the craft of routesetting. Hosting high-level competition climbing was at the forefront of the planning process for our newest project, our uber modern facility at the Rio complex in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Every angle of the gym had this purpose in mind and this March we cannot wait to show it off to the climbing world!”

The 2024 Paraclimbing National Championships, to be held March 9-10, will directly follow the National Team Trials events, where the top three (3) ranked U.S. athletes per gender in each category will go on to represent the U.S. as a part of the Paraclimbing National Team. Paraclimbing has seen a massive leap in growth over the past several years and this year’s National Championship event is sure to be even bigger and more competitive than ever before.

“We are thrilled to be able to bring these two events together once again,” said John Muse, Vice President of Sport for USA Climbing. “We are also very pleased with the new scheduling format and hope that it will allow more spectators and competitors to be a part of both of these amazing events.”

Registration will be available on Wednesday, December 20. Information regarding lodging and spectating will also be shared closer to the events.”