Climber Alipour Crowned IWGA Athlete of Year

Iranian speed climber Reza Alipour has won the poll for the athlete of the year award by the International World Games Association.

According to Theworldgames.org, Alipour won the title with 90,790 votes - just ahead of four-time World Games champion in powerlifting Larysa Soloviova from Ukraine with 90,036 votes.

“We have witnessed a vote like never before,” said IWGA President José Perurena, and continued: “It has been amazing to follow how sports fans all over the world have continued to support their candidates from the beginning all the way to the very final day. It warms my heart to see fans from so many different sports activated and voting for their candidate. I congratulate Reza Alipour as well as all the other candidates on a tough and fair race. I hope to see you all in Birmingham in 2021.”

Birmingham, the city in the US state of Alabama, will host the World Games in 2021 for ten days from July 15-25.

The World Games, first held in 1981, are an international multi-sport event, meant for sports, or disciplines or events within a sport, that are not contested in the Olympic Games.

Alipour became the first-ever Iranian champion at the World Games when he successfully climbed the wall faster than his opponents last summer in Wroclaw, Poland. After going up the 15-meter-high wall in 5.57 seconds he said: “This medal makes a dream come true, a dream which I have had for so many years.” He is also the world record holder in speed climbing.

President of the International Federation for Sport Climbing Marco Scolaris was very happy about the victory: “Congratulations to Reza for this success as well as for his achievements in 2017. He is the fastest speed climber and the first Iranian athlete to win gold at The World Games. Keep climbing!”

All in all, a record number of votes - 260,266 - were cast at the 2017 Athlete of the Year vote.

IWGA is in charge of those sport categories which are not categorized among Olympic Games. But, the International Olympic Committee has recently reconsidered its list of the games and climbing is among potential options to enter the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.