UKC

Well a big massive well done to Toby Roberts who has just won GOLD at the Olympics. And also a big well done to Hamish McArthur who ranked 5th. Great results!!

https://www.ukclimbing.com/news/olympics/2024/day5#result_cr_9183

In reply to Meeker:

You may want to change this title for those who haven't watched it yet

In reply to DaveR:

Done

In reply to Meeker:

What a win! a total monster, well done Toby

In reply to Meeker:

Toby Roberts, well done! You've put climbing on the front page!!

In reply to Meeker:

YEEEEES! Amazing!

In reply to DaveR:

ITs on live TV, and on every news bulletin; it's going to be almost literally impossible not to see before any highlights.

In reply to Meeker:

Amazing result! Can’t believe it and I’m not sure he can either!!!

In reply to Meeker:

Such an amazing result for Toby! Also great result for Hamish too. Big support for Erin tomorrow in the women's lead final! So amazing for GB climbing and that gold takes UK above France in Olympic medal table (for now!)

In reply to Ramon Marin:

brilliant performance 

In reply to Ian W:

some of us have jobs. I unfortunately saw the BMC post on Facebook just as I sat down to watch it. couldn't be more pleased for the lad.

In reply to Sean Kelly:

'You've put climbing on the front page!!'

All credit to the lad, but that's good ...why exactly?

In reply to Rob Exile Ward:

Surely because he will be a massive inspiration to other youngsters to get into climbing. The more young people who discover climbing the better, as far as I’m concerned.

I found that lead final absolutely mesmerising. The standard now is just so awesomely high.

In reply to teapot:

Good thing separate bouldering and lead don't happen until 2028! Though it does seem a shame that the combined format has denied Ondra the gold medal which he obviously deserves.

In reply to Robert Durran:

Did Ondra flash it then? I only switched on to see him struggling with his knot

In reply to Ian W:

It's great to see just what these comp climbers can do on rock.

In reply to Mark Kemball:

it is (and you've got an example in your family....). I can remember at the BMC NE meeting many moons ago, Rob Adie brought a film of some of the junior climbers first efforts outdoors. Jim Pope's first outdoor climb was an E5 6b........Rob said Jim found the climbing so easy he didn't see the need to fanny on with placing protection..........

I also noticed several occasions when junior comp climbers improved their comp performance massively when they started climbing outdoors. Much more nuanced hold selection and usage; much better route reading.....

It's all just climbing!

In reply to balmybaldwin:

No. Equal highest.

In reply to Rob Exile Ward:

Well there has been a lot of bad stuff filling the front pages recently. a great example to other young people out there. To do something positive with you life, and climbing is not a bad place to start, in any of its many different guises.

In reply to Meeker:

Fantastic effort. Those bouldering walls are going to be getting awful busy😁

In reply to Meeker: a very brief mention on R4 just down , which I assumed I had misheard . Very Well done . Unbelievable. I’d assumed it would be won  by a Russian cyborg . With thrm out the way …..Maybe a Chinese one ?

In reply to mike123:

Toby was interviewed on BBC 5 Live just after 7 this morning if anyone wants to catch up on BBC Sounds. They didn’t manage to fit in a question on the High Tor bolts

In reply to mike123:

erm … there‘s this 17 year old called Sorato Anraku, he‘s Japanese and rather good. No Chinese in sight (yet).

In reply to Meeker:

Not noticed this on any post, but today down at the wall we were all speculating as to the technical grade of the  lead route which resulted in Toby Robert's Gold medal. The concensus seems to hover around 8b? Anyone here know for sure? Nathalie Berry perhaps?

In reply to Sean Kelly:

Assuming you mean the sport grade, I suspect it would have been a little harder than 8b, because:

a) some of those who tried it very often onsight 8b;

b) almost all of the hand sequence were readable from the floor, or apparent on arrival, and there was a limited range of options for foot placement; and

c) nobody got up it!

In reply to john arran:

Since (according to Wikipedia) ‘as of July 2024, the hardest onsight was at the grade of 9a+ (5.15a) for men’, isn’t it logical to assume that it would have been about that standard? Or am I confused about something? (I was never a sport climber as such, just climbed at a modest grade on indoor walls.)

In reply to john arran:

from an interview in Climbing.com 

"Although Olympic boulders aren’t formally graded, Gregor and his team’s problems are roughly between V9 and V12 for the women, and V10 to V14 for the men. As head setter for just the Boulder category, Gregor didn’t give a precise range for Lead routes we’ll see in Paris, but guessed between 5.13d to 5.14c for women, and 5.14a(8b+) to 5.14d(9a) for men."

In reply to BenedictIEP:

It's not that hard to avoid if you're willing to not look at any news or climbing media for the short period between it happening and you watching it. I managed it quite happily for a couple of days with the women's final (granted it was less newsworthy in the UK). 

Also I presume UKC forums and Facebook are not an integral part of most people's jobs 😜

On topic - I thought the men's final was a complete triumph. Great setting, differentiation between competitors, a nail biting finish and a brilliant result. I like the combined format and think it works better for a mainstream audience than individual disciplines. I'm glad they sorted out the scoring format as well, to something reasonably intuitive and fair after the nonsense at Tokyo. 

In reply to Lhod:

I was out with Emma Twyford on the same day as the final, she reckoned it would probably be about 9a for the men's lead.

In reply to Lhod:

I thought the combined format worked really well especially with the holds for lead required for 1st, 2nd etc clearly displayed on TV (and I say that as someone with no real interest in the bouldering in itself - well maybe a little more interest than in the break dancing.....). I seem to remember a feeling that separate events were essential, if only to be able to ignore the speed climbing. With bouldering and lead separate event for LA in 2028, are people now wondering whether that is no longer ideal, especially with the combined format having brought a British gold? I imagine the ideal would be separate events along with a combined one (like gymnastics), though that would presumably mean including the dreaded speed again and so losing the bouldering/lead combination which has been a success in Paris.

​​​​​​

In reply to Robert Durran:

I don't think any decisions have been made about the LA events yet?

Personally I like the lead/boulder combined event. I think most of us do a bit of both recreationally and I think it's more impressive to excel in both than in only one or the other. That's why Janja is so impressive. I get why some people would hope for specialist events but if meant a much reduced or less competitive combined field (or no combined event at all) I think it could actually be less interesting. 

I think they'll keep speed separate now. It made the speed itself a more worthwhile watch because they were all competing against other actual speed climbers.

In reply to Si dH:

I read somewhere they were to be separated, but having looked it up again it seems you are right and no decision has been made. Sorry.

In reply to Robert Durran:

I mean, I would thought it possible that someone at UKC would be able to check with one of the route setters at the Olympics, as to the actual grade of the lead wall route. Hence why I suggested Nathalie Berry earlier. Then we could end all this idle speculation.

In reply to Meeker:

I think that the BBC commentator suggested 8c+/9a for the men's lead route in the final....I think that his source was one of the setters.

In reply to Sean Kelly:

The "actual" grade! Gosh you have a lot of faith it route setters' ability to estimate a grade.

In reply to Sean Kelly:

"UKC: The home of idle speculation since 1998"

In reply to Lhod:

I was waiting for that response!

In reply to Sean Kelly:

You're not to know there has always been a reluctance to release anything more than an approximate grade. In any case it's the onsight grade that's important in comps and the sport grade is a redpoint grade.

In reply to Offwidth:

Without rising to that bait, I'd just add that the finals routes may well not ever have been climbed in one go by any routesetter, so might better be regarded as now-defunct projects, with associated speculative grades!

In reply to john arran:

What bait? It's a fact they are unspecified (there must be some internal IFSC policy on this). It's also a fact two set routes with the same hard French grade could produce very different difficulties to climb in a comp for capable climbers at their limit..... The lead routes are designed to try and give a multiple separation of the success of the set of climbers attempting them (with a reasonable chance of one final top).

The likes of Sean McColl have previously commented on on ranges for lead and boulder. 

In reply to Offwidth:

I agree with all of that.

In reply to john arran:

I wonder if any routesetters have been caught out by making routes impossibly hard or conversely too easy. I mean routesetters at local walls have been know to get the grade mismatched for the abilities within a comp. Especially as you say that probably no-one ascended the Olympic routes prior to the actual event.

In reply to Sean Kelly:

The main reason for that is lack of knowledge of the climbers, but it does happen. Many moons ago (must be 20 years), none of the finalists in the BBC's could do any of the problems, so afterwards they "politely requested" that the route setter show them how it's done. He (Percy Bishton) flashed them all.

Re the Olympics, the grade isn't as consistent as a normal route, as the grade will increase as you get higher up the wall. And there is very good knowledge of the climbers, it's the same gang as all the world cups. And whilst the routes might not have been climbed in one go, each section and link up of moves will have been tested to death over several months.

And weren't those Olympic routes just superb......

In reply to Ian W:

Well we can't all be Percey Bishton. Thanks for that insight.

In reply to Ian W:

I've seen setters demo their problems in the BBCs wearing their trainers.

In reply to steve taylor:

well they do have significantly better beta than the average punter (or BBC entrant....)....