Starting tomorrow, 22 men and 22 women will compete across Speed, Boulder and Lead in Toulouse, France, to fill the next 12 Sport Climbing quota places for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. 6 quota places per sex will be contested by the athletes - many of whom are treating this IFSC Combined Qualifier event as their last chance to earn a ticket to Tokyo. Failure to do so this weekend would require an athlete to win their respective 2020 Combined continental championship event, or at least be the highest placed not-yet-qualified climber. Finally, one athlete per sex will be chosen for the Tripartite Commission spot.
20-year-old, Edinburgh-born all-rounder Will Bosi will be competing in the event from tomorrow and is looking to join Shauna Coxsey as part of Team GB at Tokyo 2020. Shauna's 3rd place finish in the IFSC Hachioji World Championships this August earned her Great Britain's first Sport Climbing quota place.
On Instagram, Will wrote: 'I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous but I'm incredibly excited to have been given this opportunity! Let's hope the years of training have helped.'
Last week, the IFSC released an updated startlist for the Toulouse event (UKC News). As previously reported, a last-minute rule change made by the IFSC caused confusion as the 2 athletes per country maximum quota for participation in the Toulouse event was dropped, meaning that 2 men and 2 women who had reached the initial top 20 cut-off were surplus to the selection event quota and their invitations were revoked. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) ultimately approved the IFSC's proposal to invite an expanded field of 22 athletes per category to Toulouse.
© IFSC
Since the 6 Japanese athletes competing in Toulouse are currently unable to qualify for an Olympic quota place (lawsuit pending) after Japan confirmed their full quota of two - Tomoa Narasaki, Kai Harada; Akiyo Noguchi, Miho Nonaka - following Hachioji, and due to the 2-athletes-per-country maximum for Tokyo qualification, the top six athletes eligible for Olympic quota places might be decided in the qualification rounds on Thursday and Friday. 8 athletes will progress to finals, but some of these places might be held by Japanese or surplus, ineligible athletes from France, Germany or the USA.
Following the recent announcement that WADA is recommending a ban on Russian athletes from competing in Tokyo 2020, the three Russian climbers competing in Toulouse might face an anxious wait until December 9th should any of them qualify for a quota place.
Spectators will be keeping fingers crossed for 'climber's climber' Adam Ondra (CZE), who missed out on an Olympic spot in Hachioji after being marked down due to stepping on a bolt low on the Combined Lead qualification route. For insight into how athletes have fared in the 2019 IFSC World Cup season and to see how their all-time podium results compare, check out this data source created by Tim Leong.
IFSC commentator Charlie Boscoe will be providing a written report of the event for UKC.
The athletes that have already received a confirmed Olympic quota place are:
Women
Janja GARNBRET
Akiyo NOGUCHI
Shauna COXSEY
Aleksandra MIROSLAW
Miho NONAKA
Brooke RABOUTOU
Jessica PILZ
Men
Tomoa NARASAKI
Jakob SCHUBERT
Rishat KHAIBULLIN
Kai HARADA
Mickael MAWEM
Alex MEGOS
Ludovico FOSSALI
Sean MCCOLL
IFSC Combined Qualifier Schedule (UK time)
Thursday 28th November
Men's Qualification
10:00am Speed qualification
12pm Boulder qualification
3:45pm Lead qualification
Friday 29th November
Women's Qualification
10:00am Speed qualification
12pm Boulder qualification
3:45pm Lead qualification
Saturday 30th November
Men's Final
6pm Speed final
6:45pm Boulder final
9:40pm Lead final
Sunday 1st December
1pm Speed final
1:45pm Boulder final
3:40pm Lead final
Watch the livestreams below:
Comments
Very disappointed to find out that we were literally minutes too late in getting tickets for this when we looked online last night. Great that it's all online though.
It's weird how you disregard the women in this sentence, given that the 6 competing Japanese athletes are 4 men and 2 women, and Japan has confirmed their full quota of four (two of each sex) with Tomoa, Kai, Miho, and Akiyo all going to the Olympics.
Let the games begin! Like many, I was a skeptic about the combined comps, but they are actually quite exciting as every stage matters.
That said, it might be better for strong boulder and lead competitors to do poorly in the speed because they would do fewer races and could save valuable energy for their stronger disciplines. I doubt any athletes thinks like this, but maybe their coaches should consider this strategy. The scoring format favors those who do great in one event and poorly in the others (e.g. 1x20x20=400) rather than middle of the pack in all three (e.g. 10x10x10=1000).
Not correct. In the qualification round everyone has 2 runs.
In the finals everyone has the same number of races as we now have races to decide 7th/8th etc. This was introduced this year in the World Champs after the IOC decision to increase the number of finalists to 8.
Thanks for the clarification. That format makes more sense.