UKC

Just watched the semi-finals of the bouldering in Sheffield and noticing Tara Hayes on the last problem.

1st attempt - judge tells her that she's not touched all four starting holds at the same time - she re-adjusts and gets both hands and feet on the starting hold - no problem.

2nd (successful attempt) - I didn't see her get both hands and feet on the starting hold at the same time - the camera angle was different so I may have missed her right hand in front of her body but from what I could see her right arm was upwards not downwards.

Question: do you need to have all 4 limbs on the starting holds for each attempt (which is what I thought) or just for the first attempt?

Or did the judges miss something, or (because of the camera angles) did I?

Having said all that, she was clearly the best (or =best) climber in the semis and would have qualified regardless of her P4 results and she could have easily re-adjusted anyway so I'm not griping about her performance, merely wondering about the rules and their application.

Every attempt.

Does every attempt to get established in the starting holds count as an attempt on the problem form a scoring point of view? 

I think it's every time you stop touching the ground (i.e. all 4 limbs off the ground) but I'm sure Graeme will have the proper answer.

Yes.

Correct. As soon as your last point of contact with the ground is lost, your attempt has started, regardless of whether or not you achieve the start position.

It was a slightly weird boulder in that it seemed like you could push up against the wall a bit with two points on the blob before establishing all four, which I didn't think would be legit when I was trying it. I should have asked the judge!

Got a link to the full results?

From what I saw of some of the attempts (afraid I can't specifically remember your attempt) It seemed like left foot and hands on the blob to stand up leaning into the little corner on the right, somehow get left foot on the blob, then reach down to make sure both hands touched the blob, then straighten up again - very artificial starting position because it wasn't a natural part of the moves required to get up the whole problem.