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Jiang Chuqin

This week marked the start of the Olympic climbing events. After making its debut in Tokyo, this urban sport became more popular across the world, especially among the young.
This year, the number of gold medals in climbing has doubled from Tokyo, as it has been split into two separate events: speed climbing, and bouldering and lead combined.
In the newly constructed Le Bourget Climbing venue, three outdoor walls in light blue and pink will wait for 68 climbers.
Here’s what you need to know to fully appreciate this new sport at the Olympics.
Speed climbing
How is the fastest climber decided?
For casual viewers, the rule for speed climbing is quite straightforward: athletes compete to climb to the top of a 15-metre wall as quickly as possible.
It is like a sprint race on the wall. The audience can expect to see the world’s top climbers finish it like Spider-Man in five to six seconds.
In the ranking round, each climber gets two runs, one on Lane A and another on Lane B. The two lanes are identical – each hold is the same and is placed in the same spot.
After the seeding round, the fastest climber will be paired with the slowest for a one-on-one elimination round. All the winners in seven rounds, plus the loser with the fastest time of their best in three runs, can advance to the quarter-finals.
Then eight climbers will be paired again by their times and compete against each other until the final, in which the winner can claim the gold.
Is there a false start? Where is the finish line?
A false start is declared when a climber leaves the ground within 0.1 seconds – the limit of human reaction time – after three buzzer sounds.
At the end of each lane, there is a touchpad that climbers must touch to stop the clock, with the time showing up immediately on the screen at the top.
Who are the fastest climbers on earth?
Indonesian Veddriq Leonardo and American Sam Watson have just taken the men’s event to the sub-5-second era. Leonardo was the first man to break five seconds, setting a record 4.90s in last year’s Seoul World Cup. The mark was bettered by Watson to 4.80s in April.


Another strong candidate for the podium is China’s Wu Peng, who beat world-record holder Watson in the final at April’s World Cup and is also a member of the sub-5s club. Wu earned his personal best of 4.86s – an Asian record – in the semi-final of the same event.
Their first round is scheduled today (Tuesday) at 4pm. Let’s see if they can bring more surprises to Paris.
In the women’s speed event on Monday, Polish climber Aleksandra Mirosław finished her first trial in 6.21 seconds, breaking her own mark of 6.24s last year. Then she stunned the audience again by clocking 6.06s in the second run.




Bouldering and lead
How does bouldering work as a competitive sport?
You may see some friends posting videos of climbing up a wall with colourful holds – those are very likely to have been from inside a bouldering gym.
Amateur climbers are always happy about getting to the top of the route. A climber solves a “boulder problem” when they are able to place two hands on the top hold and establish control.
It is the same goal for professional climbers. But for two people who solve the same problem, or for two who both fail, how is the winner decided?
In the bouldering competition, four problems are set on a 4.5-metre wall. Climbers, who have never seen those routes before, need to top them in the fewest attempts, and have five minutes for each problem.
A climber can earn a maximum of 100 points, 25 for each if they successfully finish with only one attempt. If a climber does not top but reaches the checkpoint, they will be rewarded either five or 10 points. Each failed attempt will add a 0.1-point deduction to the final score. The deduction only happens when an athlete later reaches that checkpoint or top.
Route setters usually try to test different aspects of the climbers’ abilities on each boulder problem, such as strength, flexibility and balance.
As the wall is not that tall, climbers do not use ropes or harnesses for protection. But do not worry, there is a big cushioned mattress to catch them when they fall.
What are the rules for lead?
Lead climbing is like a marathon on the wall with hurdles – it requires not only techniques but also endurance.
One route is set on a 15m wall and each climber gets one attempt to climb as high as they can. Before the event starts, climbers can study the wall for six minutes without attempting it.
There are at least 40 holds in that problem. The top 40 holds are divided into four groups based on height, marked 1-4 points, respectively.
Lead climbers need to wear harnesses and clip their rope into carabiners (or shackles) along the route for safety. So if you see a climber periodically clipping something, it is 100 per cent sure that you are watching a lead climbing event.
Why are climbers carrying a chalk bag and a brush?
Chalk bags are necessities for climbing athletes. In both bouldering and lead climbing, you can see them constantly dipping their hands into the bag and blowing off extra chalk.
The chalk is to help dry the sweat. Sweaty palms can be a nightmare when climbing, causing climbers to slip off holds.
Many climbers bring their own brushes to clean some holds as well. Between each round, you can see volunteers running to brush the holds for athletes. That is because if a hold is covered by chalk, the texture of the hold can be diminished, which causes friction loss between the hand and the hold.
Who are the strong competitors in the event?
The world No 1 in women’s bouldering and lead is Slovenian Janja Garnbret. She is the defending champion from Tokyo and has won every World Cup event since last June.
Japanese climber Miho Nonaka, who clinched silver in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, is another strong candidate for the podium. She just dyed her hair blue and red for Paris. Will her new look bring her good luck in the Le Bourget Climbing venue?












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Another Japanese climber, Ai Mori, the world champion in lead, is ready for her Olympic debut too. This 21-year-old secured her ticket to Paris by placing third in the combined event of the 2023 world championships.
As for the men’s event, the Japanese delegation has two strong medal contenders in Sorato Anraku and Tomoa Narasaki, who finished the top two in the bouldering semi-final on Monday.
The defending bronze medallist Jakob Schubert from Austria and Great Britain’s rising star Toby Roberts are also poised for a medal in the Olympics.


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Speed climbing was first included as an Olympic event in 2021.

Sport

Paris Olympics 2024

Explainers

After making its debut at the Tokyo Games, climbing has became more popular across the world, especially among young people


After making its debut at the Tokyo Games, climbing has became more popular across the world, especially among young people.


Climbing and mountaineering

Tokyo

Provide background, definition and detail of a specific topic, helping the reader understand how something works or what has happened in the past.  (Eg. What is Nafta? US and Mexico are on the verge of revising trade deal.)


Explainer

Explainer | Paris Olympics: speed, bouldering and lead – what you need to know about the climbing events

After making its debut at the Tokyo Games, climbing has became more popular across the world, especially among young people

Speed climbing