Paraclimbing World Cup: Visually impaired athletes take Romania to the podium in Austria

Romania’s national paraclimbing team achieved another outstanding performance and claimed four medals at the World Cup in Innsbruck, Austria. The visually impaired athletes thus return home with gold, silver and bronze medals.

Cosmin Candoi won his second gold medal of the 2023 competition season in the visually impaired B3 category, while Daniel Andrei followed closely behind on the second step of the podium in the same category. Candoi also grabbed gold at the World Cup held in Salt Lake City, the US, in May.

Ionela Grecu took third place in the women’s B3 category for the visually impaired. Meanwhile, Răzvan Nedu, the captain of the national paraclimbing team, won bronze in the B1 category.

Claudiu Miu, coach and founder of the Climb Again Association, said: “At this stage of the world cup, we managed to have qualified four Climb Again athletes who started practicing the sport at the Climb Again Association in the therapy centers in Bucharest or Iași and are now helping other young people with disabilities and even represent Romania on international podiums. We are proud of them.”

The Climb Again Association, the coordinator of the Romanian paraclimbing team, is a non-governmental organization affiliated with the Romanian Mountaineering and Climbing Federation (FRAE), founded and led by Claudiu Miu, former Balkan climbing champion. Since 2014, it has been organizing free sessions of climbing therapy, physical therapy and psychological counselling for children and young people with disabilities.

(Photo source: Climb Again Association; by Corina Dorina)