After claiming victory at the World Championships in Paris in September, home favourite Petra Klingler will hoping to overcome an injured knee and compete on home soil at the Haslital Climbing Center.

Last season's champion Shauna Coxsey of Great Britain, who won the first three competitions last year, is also coming back from injury but is expected to compete this weekend.

Miho Nonaka of Japan, runner-up in the overall rankings last year, is set to compete alongside her compatriot Akiyo Noguchi, who finished fourth.

In the men's competition, defending champion Tomoa Narasaki will be in action as he bids to retain his title.

He is set to go up against Kokoro Fujii, another Japanese competitor, who finished in second place last year.

Aleksei Rubtsov of Russia finished third in the World Cup standings in 2016 and will be hoping to perform better this time around.

The hopes of the host nation in the men's draw will be resting on Baptiste Ometz, who finished 2016 on a high after he finished second at the IFSC Youth World Championships in Guangzhou in China.

This season will be the first full version to take place since sport climbing was added to the Olympic programme for the Tokyo 2020 Games.

Sport climbing was added to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic programme in August along with karate, surfing, sports skateboarding and baseball/softball.

Action is due to begin in Meiringen tomorrow qualification rounds before the semi-finals and finals take place on Saturday (April 8).