So…What Do the Climbing Olympics Entail?
Climbing was introduced to the Summer Olympics as an official sport in 2020 (which, as many of you recall, ended up being pushed back to Summer 2021 due to the *ahem* highly-contagious coronavirus). In 2021, climbing athletes competed in three climbing disciplines for the chance to win gold: Speed, Bouldering, and Lead. The medals were based on combined scores between the three events, so each athlete had to be very good at all three disciplines.
This year, though, there has been a significant change: due to speed climbing requiring entirely different skills and training regimens than Bouldering and Lead, the Olympics has created a medal set for Speed Climbing and a combined medal set for Bouldering and Lead. Basically, Speed specialists will compete against other Speed specialists, and Lead & Boulder specialists will compete against Lead & Boulder specialists. And it’s looking to be a great competition!
Now, let’s get into defining the three different disciplines:
Speed – The speed climbing route is standardized globally and does not change. It’s like a track or a swimming pool, where the only thing that changes is the athlete and the ultimate goal is to get to the top as quickly as possible (and set a new world record, if the mood strikes).
Bouldering – To get full points, athletes must climb to the top of a route without falling. The thing is, they only have 5 minutes to figure out the route and get to the top, and (more importantly) they’ve never seen the route before. Each of the four boulders for Semifinals and each of the four boulders for Finals will be completely different from each other and will challenge climbers on different types of climbing – footwork, dynamic movement, balance, finger strength, and coordination. Athletes have unlimited attempts within the 5 minutes, but they earn fewer and fewer points with each attempt. Also, climbers climb boulders without being attached to a rope.
Lead – Climbers have 6 minutes and only 1 try to get to the top of the lead route. As soon as an athlete falls, they’re done and their score is calculated based on their performance. Even if a competitor falls on the very first move. They’re attached to a rope as the wall is quite high, and must clip their rope into special carabiners called “quickdraws” as they ascend the route. It is rare to see an athlete get to the top of a lead route, but it’s been done in competitions before.
Janja is set to compete in the combined Bouldering and Lead disciplines. She already completed the Bouldering Semifinal and will compete in the Lead Semifinal on Thursday (8.7.2024), which will determine which women will move into the Finals!
Go Slovenia!!
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