UKC

The Olympic climbing movement is growing, according to news just in from IFSC Athletes' Commision chair Sean McColl. Paris 2024 has proposed Sport Climbing as one of the additional sports at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, adding another set of medals and thereby doubling both the medal and athlete quota of Tokyo 2020. Disciplines will be split between an individual Speed competition and a combined Lead/Bouldering event. 12 medals will be up for grabs (6 in Speed, 6 in Lead/Boulder combined between men and women).

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In reply to UKC News:

Sounds like a move in the right direction.

In reply to UKC News:

Hopefully the IOC will agree with the proposal

In reply to john arran:

Yes half way there.

In reply to Pedro50:

So speed climbing would essentially become an Olympic sport in its own right? Haha. I see they are also looking at breakdancing. Not sure which is more silly. I certainly would much rather watch breakdancing than speed climbing but it's a fairly weird to think of it as a competitive sport. But then they do have horse dancing as a sport so what do I know. 

In reply to snoop6060:

I think while speed climbing is quite silly when seen in the climbing context it fits the Olympics quite well. After all, the track and field competitions are somewhat contrived as well. Speed climbing feels certainly more like short track or hurdles that lead climbing.

In reply to Marmolata:

Aye I do agree but I the thing with speed climbing is that just not many people do it. It's a weird niche in climbing.  For it to become an Olympic sport in own right with an equal medal haul to lead/boulder combined is really weird. I expect if it makes it in, in like 20 years it will mostly be won by athletes with a track and field background rather than a climbing background. High jumpers, sprinters will probably better suited to it than climbers. 

In reply to UKC News:

Would be good to see lead and bouldering split too seeing as they really are three separate disciplines. Athletes would then be able to compete in as many of the disciplines as they like (providing they meet qualification criteria).

As it stands with just speed on it's own it feels like there should be more than just the 20 competitors in lead and bouldering combined. Perhaps they could expand to 32, so double the 16 speed athletes.

Either way, lets hope it goes down well in Tokyo which would then give weight to any arguments to expand/improve in future.

In reply to Graeme Alderson:

Hearty congratulations to FFME for being so persuasive. I’m keeping my fingers crossed this isn’t a premature leak.

In reply to UKC News: I would have liked to see Trad Climbing as an Olympic sport...with a time limit to complete the ascent. It would be far more entertaining, especially if climbers  had to start running it out to beat the clock. It would make fantastic, edge of the seat viewing.

Lets be honest, people only watch F1 and downhill skiing for the crashes and wipe-out potential.

In reply to Martin Haworth:

Yes, a trad FA big wall category, set in, say, Baffin Island would be good. Points given to the longest and hardest lines, aid moves lose points. I wouldn't like to see it like speed climbing, but I guess you could possibly limit the number of days allowed. 

In reply to UKC News:

Having speed climbing in the same category as the other two disciplines never made sense. Great step I think we can all be happy with.

In reply to Colin Knowles:

Wouldn't you be better off crossing your legs?

In reply to mtnash:

Agree, and it's the next obvious move. But `interesting' that they've already seemed - even before Tokyo - to have recognized the oddity of combing speed with lead/bouldering. And not to have yet recognized the persisting oddity in keeping lead and bouldering combined for Paris...

In reply to Southvillain:

One foothold at a time ...

In reply to Southvillain:

They have to take other events, number of athletes, organisation and medals into account. It's not as easy as adding another set of medals for another discipline. 

In reply to mtnash:

Then next step after that would be DWS. A lead wall over the diving pool, once they're finished with the swimming/diving would probably get the most non-climbing viewers.

In reply to Natalie Berry - UKC:

If number of medals is a problem then they could just leave out speed climbing. Nobody does it anyway. The largest climbing gym in Denmark (and Northern Europe they say) had a speed wall, but they took down the speed holds and replaced them with normal holds for that reason.

In reply to Stefan Jacobsen:

FTFY

In reply to john arran:

You are right of course. I have seen it at a WC in Chamonix. Quite boring compared to the lead comp. 

In reply to Stefan Jacobsen:

I completely agree. It used to be much more fun to watch, in the days when the route was different for each event, as that led to times getting faster through each round as climbers refined their sequence. But seeing finals won in slower times than qualifiers will never be a recipe for thrilling viewing.

In reply to Stefan Jacobsen:

Hopefully, with "proper" climbers no longer having to do Speed to compete, interest in Speed will quickly fade and other walls will follow suit; the Speed wall at Ratho could be put to much better use.

In reply to UKC News:

I still think that squash deserves a place in the Olympics far more than climbing...

In reply to snoop6060:

I'd have thought retired/failed Pole Vaulters or Gymnasts would be more likely. High Jumpers have negligible upper body strength, and sprinters are too bulky - both have zero hand strength.

In reply to fred99:

Gymnasts! Every time I see one climbing for the first time I’m baffled. To a certain extent that goes for ballet dancers as well. What balance and body awareness.  

In reply to Stefan Jacobsen:

Lots of people speed climb, actually! 

In reply to Stefan Jacobsen:

And core strength!

In reply to fred99:

Jack Longland attributed his success on Javelin Blade to pole vaulting

In reply to Natalie Berry - UKC:

Yes, I've done it myself, and on granite it was quite fun. On a WC approved speed wall, however, it was dull. Maybe I'm just too damn slow and too damn outdoorsy.

In reply to stevieb:

Genius idea! With extra points for the dive element. Kills two birds with one stone.

In reply to Simon Caldwell:

And surely more so than break-prancing.

In reply to Natalie Berry - UKC:

Define lots? I mean it's fairly niche even in the climbing world. So in a general sense not many people speed climb. I'd guess it's at the bottom or roundabouts in the list of all olympic sports in terms of participation. Just a guess tho, I could well be wrong. 

In reply to snoop6060:

I haven’t read all the comments, just whole Olympic thing is leaving me cold. Initially I thought it would be could for climbing but the more I hear the more I think it’s going to influence climbing in a negative way. 

In reply to snoop6060:

It might be niche for Western world but it seems pretty big in Russia, Poland and Asia.

Looks like kids in the US are also getting into it.

Probably for the best that they split from lead and bouldering though. Speed specialists are really impressive but have virtually no chance of going through the combine event...

In reply to UKC News:

BTW, if you've not seen it, check out Adam Ondra's `Road to Tokyo' series on youtube. He promises a new upload every week from now to the Olympics.

youtube.com/watch?v=dcnvlELPEIA&

In reply to Natalie Berry - UKC:

Who? Where? Which countries? I've never, ever seen it or a wall set up for it, or any media for it or any sponsorship adverts or any competitions relating to it  (and I've traveled/climbed/live in a lot of countries around the world).
It is more niche than no-handed slab climbing...

In reply to LemonFresh:

Awesome walls in Sheffield has a speed wall, i'm sure there must be others.

In reply to LemonFresh:

You could do a lot worse than look at the ifsc website and have a look at the results section; that will give you a flavour of who does it.

https://www.ifsc-climbing.org

Or visit EICA Ratho, ROF59 (Newton Aycliffe, nr Durham), or Awesome Walls Sheffield to see an actual speed wall. Apologies to any in the UK I have missed out.

Since 2010, EICA Ratho have hosted the world youth champs twice and a world cup event.

In reply to UKC News:

Great news.  I wonder what having to spread training over 3 disciplines has done to atheletes both physically and mentally.  It must be playing havoc with some of the more mature bodies

In reply to john arran:

Surely that's no more of a problem than for other athletics events that have heats and finals like the 100m sprint?

In reply to Andrew Kin:

Several of them have done all 3 disciplines anyway. Sean McColl, Anouck Jaubert, and in the last couple of years Jan Hojer to name 3. Sure, theres a different emphasis on the 3 disciplines, but athletes of their stature and experience can cope!

In reply to Luke90:

Except that the format of the speed climbing event doesn't allow for full recovery between rounds. Maybe a way around it would be to have no more than 2 rounds a day, but if that were the case I'd be pretty sure it would be even less of a spectacle.

As an aside, is there any recognised Olympic speed-based event with a world record time less than 5.48 seconds, or is climbing the fastest? I have a vague recollection that rope-climbing (once an Olympic event, apparently) was discontinued partly because it was becoming hard to measure times of just a few seconds. Is there any substantive difference between speed climbing and rope climbing?

In reply to john arran:

Oh, I see, I'd missed that detail. I've only ever seen the odd clip of speed climbing, never a whole event. Thanks for explaining.

In reply to Ian W:

I was thinking more from the perspective of atheletes who have been involved in bouldering and/or lead and then incorporating another element.  From a time to train properly perspective alone I see it all as a huge compromise and possibly going to inflict injuries on athletes whose bodies are not conditioned for explosive events like this.  Watch any sprinting event and you always see hamstrings popping left right and centre.  I wonder what changing in someone’s training schedule will result in short and long term.

Anyhow, it’s now separated off and in my eyes it’s a good thing

In reply to LemonFresh:

See 'Up To Speed', part of Reel Rock 13.

https://reelrocktour.com/films/