Churchill High School Teen competes at the World Youth Championships for Climbing

POTOMAC, MD -- Winston Churchill High School Senior Noah Bratschi represented the United States at the 2017 International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) World Youth Climbing Championships, which were held in Innsbruck, Austria from August 30 - Sept. 10.

Noah finished 4th in the 16-17 year old age group in the Speed Climbing event in a field of 110 other athletes from 50 countries. In the picture above he is on the left winning a race against a climber from Russia. The Potomac, Maryland native earned his spot to compete at the World Championships after winning the 2017 USA Climbing National Championships held in Kennesaw, GA in July of this year.

The rules for IFSC speed climbing competitions are simple: Climbers first race in two qualifying runs straight up a 15 meter wall (on a standardized route) in which the fastest of their two times is used to rank them against the other competitors. The 16 fastest climbers then race side-by-side in single elimination seeded matchups, where the first to the top wins.

Noah is a three-time (2015-17) USA Climbing National Champion in speed climbing and has competed previously at IFSC World Championships in Arco, Italy and Guangzhou, China. Noah will compete next at the 2017 IFSC PanAmerican Championships in Montreal, Canada in November, and hopes to qualify to compete in speed climbing at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.