Russian city Kirov will play host to the UIAA Ice Climbing World Championships this weekend ©UIAA

Russian city Kirov will play host to the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation (UIAA) Ice Climbing World Championships this weekend with a number of home athletes set to be in contention for medals.

Qualification at the latest edition of the biennial event is due to start tomorrow with lead and speed finals taking place on Sunday (March 10).

Russia’s Nikolai Kuzovlev is the undoubted favourite for men's lead glory having won four World Cup gold medals from six events as well as triumphing at the World Combined Championships in Moscow in December.

His main rivals, Yannick Glatthard of Switzerland and defending world champion Heeyong Park of South Korea, will not feature in Kirov.

It means those possibly providing the most stringent competition will be France’s Nathan Clair and Louna Ladevant, Iran’s Mohammadreza Safdarian and Kuzovlev’s compatriots Alexey Dengin and Maxim Tomilov.

South Korea's Woonseon Shin is the defending champion in women's lead and has enjoyed an excellent season. 

Home favourite Maria Tolokonina, who has seven gold medals to her name this campaign, will start in pole position, however. 

Top-10 performers from this year’s World Tour, including Ireland's Eimir McSwiggan, Finland's Enni Bertling and Poland's Olga Kosek, will all have medal ambitions as well. 

The Russian team for the World Championships is strong and in all likelihood will dominate the men's speed competition. 

World Cup winner Anton Nemov will start off as the favourite but he faces a stern test from Nikita Glazyrin, Vladislav Iurlov, Ivan Spitsyn, Anton Sukharev and the aforementioned Kuzovlev. 

Defending world champion Vladimir Kartashev will need to end a two-year run without a gold medal if he is to retain the title he won in Champagny-en-Vanoise in France two years ago. 

The Russian team’s main threat is likely to come from Iran’s Mohsen Rad Beheshti.

Tolokonina will also be in contention in the women's speed event, which will see the likes of Ekaterina Koshcheeva, the overall World Cup winner, and recent gold medallists Valeriia Bogdan, Ekaterina Feoktistova and Natalia Savitskaia all harbouring ambitions of claiming the world title in front of a home crowd.

Livestreaming of the competition will be available on the UIAA social media channels - YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.

It will also be shown on partner channels Extreme, EpicTV and the Olympic Channel.

The season, collectively the World Tour, is partnered by Outdoor Research.