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Competition climbing & Olympic Sport Climbing

Competition climbing & Olympic sport climbing

We're super-duper excited that climbing is coming back for it's second Olympic appearance at Paris 2024 - it's first appearance was at Tokyo 2020.

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We're pretty stoked to see Climbing back in the Olympics, not only because we're climbers ourselves but because it's another step towards outdoor sports being appreciated on the world stage.

A photo of Michael performing a layback on a bouldering wall in a competition setting.

3RD ROCK Ambassador Michaela cruising up the bouldering wall at a comp a few years back

Where & when did competition climbing start?

The origins of climbing is an entirely different topic, and a lot of different people claim it starts in different places at different times, from Royal Robbins in Yosemite valley to China in the year 400bc where men are depcited rock climbing.

 

But when was competitve climbing born? Well in what most believe to be the best era of course; the 80s. That's right, we're talking mullets, moustaches and climbing comps... what a time to be alive!

 

The first international climbing comp was in SportRoccia hosted at Bardonecchia, Italy in 1985. From there, climbing was seen as commercially viable and became more publicly recognised.

A photo depicting Lynn Hill in what could be the 90s climbnig The Nose in Yosemite

Lynn Hill climbing the Nose in Yosemite. Credit to Lynn Hill Climbing for the photo.

Lynn Hill - an inspiration for many

We can't talk about the growth of rock climbing without mentioning one of our heroes - Lynn Hill.

 

Starting out in the Yosemite dirtbag culture with the "Stonemasters", Lynn made huge waves in the world of Rock climbing, sending routes people didn't think were possible - like free climbing the Nose in a single day.

 

Now add that she was a young Woman in the 70s and you've got a true trailblazer that inspired countless girls around the world.

 

In 1986 Lynn discovered competition climbing in France, and from there went on to win over 30 international comps.

Olympic climbing formats

Competition climbing has different styles & formats. We have written a blog about different climbing styles if you're wanting to learn more, but in this case we'll focus purely on those used in Olympic sport climbing.

 

We'll also dive into Ice climbing another time, as that's a whole topic in itself!

 

Now, there is some confusion when we say "Sport climbing". In the Olympics they refer to all climbing as "Sport climbing", where as in the climbing community Sport climbing is a style of outdoor climbing where the rock face already has bolts fixed, and the climber clips in as they go... confusing, I know!  

A picture showing Janja Garnbret in the lead climbing

Janja Garnbret, winner of the sport climbing at Tokyo, on the lead wall during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Photo credit: Eddie Fowke.

Lead climbing

Lead climbing is the form of roped climbing in competitions. When climbers are tied into a rope and clip in to quickdraws placed up the route. The routes are normally 15m tall for this format.

 

Lead climbing is primarily judged on how high the climber gets up the route, whoever gets the furthest, wins!

 

If multiple climbers get to the same highpoint or both finish, it's put down who did it quicker.

A photo depicting 3RD ROCK Warrior Imi competing at the Yonder climbing wall birthday bash.

3RD ROCK Warrior Imi competing at the Yonder Birthday bas. Wearing our Batabooms of course.

Bouldering

Bouldering is climbing with no ropes, but instead a crash pad at the bottom to cushion the climber's fall. These walls have a maximum height of 4.5 metres.

 

The judging in bouldering isn't based on time. The climber is presented with a number of boulders (normally 5) and are given an allocated amount of time (normally 5 minutes, 1 minute per boulder) to climb each route.

 

On each boulder route are 2 holds a climbers is scored on: The top hold & the zone. The zone is normally around the middle point of the route. The zone isn't always required and can sometimes be difficult to get to, but can help contribute to being ranked higher.

 

For the final scoring, climbers are ranked on the following (in order):

  1. The number of tops (reaching the top hold)
  2. The number of zone holds
  3. The total number of attempts to top the boulder (the less the better)
  4. The total number of attempts to get the zone hold (also the less the better)

Here is Bassa Mawern setting the Olympic record for Men's speed climbing 😲

Speed climbing

Speed climbing uses a "auto-belay" system, so there is nothing to slow down the climber. Unlike lead or bouldering, speed climbing used the exact same route & holds everytime - so the climbers already know the route and just need to focus on speed.

 

Speed climbing walls are always 15m high & on a 5 degree overhang.

 

In a competition format, there are two identical routes side-by-side, and you see 2 climbers race up at the same time.

 

Although they are judged across a round of climbers so it's not necesarily a 1v1 race - this just adds to the excitment of watching and adds another competitive to the climbers.

Gear up for climbing, whether it's indoor or outdoor

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