Olympic Climbing 2024 Guide: What’s Next In Paris

It will soon be Olympic Climbing 2024.

2021 was a very special Olympics year with a lot of firsts. A first where…athletes are disqualified from the Olympics if they caught COVID. Where a single medal category consists of speed climbing, bouldering and lead climbing combined. Where a combined score is based on multiplication of rankings in different disciplines.

It was chaotic to say the least. Climbers are not mathematicians, but neither were they expecting to calculate the different probabilities of winning based on multiplication. And it was almost unfair too! How can someone get last place in bouldering but become an overall winner for the Olympics?

The score is determined by each athlete’s ranking in each discipline, where the climber with the lowest multiplication score will win gold. (e.g. getting 1st in speed, 8th in bouldering, and 1st in climbing entitles you to 8 points).

I remembered watching Epic TV climbing for a real-time commentary alongside the competition, and they were just as confused. I think at some point, the climbers gave up trying to figure out what placing they were in the finals.

So how will the next 2024 Olympics climbing look like? Here are some things that will be different:

Men’s Combined Male (prediction):
1. Sorato Anraku (JPN)
2. Toby Roberts (GBR)
3. Adam Ondra (CZE)

Women’s Combined Female (prediction):
1. Janja Garnbret (SLO)
2. Oriane Bertone (FRA)
3. Brooke Raboutou (USA)

1) 2024 Olympic Climbing Event: Lead and Bouldering…and Speed

Face it: No one was happy when the organization decided to combine the three disciplines.

The best speed climbers do not compete in lead & bouldering and vice versa. But it did give an element of excitement in last year’s Olympics with everyone on a level-playing field. The men’s winner, Alberto Ginés López did not top any boulders in the finals, but had a great speed and lead performance.

Qualifying for the 2021 Olympics at that time required a climber to be an all-rounder in all three disciplines. Those who trained in speed climbing only don’t stand a chance to qualify. Hence, the Olympics has reverted to IFSC’s original format, separating lead & bouldering from speed. This is good news for countries like Indonesia, who are currently dominating the world of speed climbing.

So instead of 2 medals, we now have 4!

2) A 4-day-event will now be a 6-day-event in the 2024 Olympics

With the combined format split into two, schedules are now more spread out which is a good thing for the athletes! I felt really bad for the climbers last year as they could barely catch a break except for that one hour interval in between each discipline. What insane endurance they had scaling up the 4.5m – 15m walls for at least 10 times!

The gender categories for each climbing event will happen on alternate days : men’s bouldering semi final will be first followed by women’s bouldering semi final the next day.

3) You will see more climbers in the 2024 Olympics

The number of climbing athletes allowed to qualify will increase from 40 to 68 in Paris. 40 will come from Lead and Bouldering and 20 will come from Speed.

The current 2024 speed climbing Olympics Record for Men’s is 4.75 seconds (Sam Watson, USA) and Women’s is 6.06 seconds (Aleksandra Miroslaw). We may see these records getting broken with more speed climbers joining the ranks.

Indonesian speed climber Kiromal Katibin is definitely the one to watch followed by Sam Watson from the USA. Perhaps by 2024 Olympics, we may see him climbing in the sub-5s.

4) Combined climbing scores will no longer be multiplied…but it will be different

The multiplication score may be banished…but it will be replaced with something more intriguing.

After last year’s insane confusion, you may think that the best way to crown winners is through going back to IFSC’s original format: scoring by attempts, high points, and countbacks.

Paris Olympics Climbing Scoring System

The Olympics 2024 system will instead become a point system. A full score for lead and climbing will be 100 points for each discipline. To win the combined event, climbers will have to obtain the highest score out of 200 points.

Example scenario:
Climber A has 10 points after reaching zone 2, but falls 5 times without topping it. He/she has an overall score of 9.5.
Climber B tops the route, but falls 5 times earlier on attempts on the same route. He/she has an overall score of 24.5.

This means getting the top is the biggest incentive to achieve the best score possible. The value of zones is degraded in this format, and climbers will have to restrategize.

For lead, an athlete will not score any points except on the final 40 holds of the route. IFSC states that they the routes will have an estimated amount of 60 moves (equivalent to 60 holds). This means that the first 20 holds that the lead climber touches is unscored. Climbers have to get pass the 20th hold for the scores to be counted.

Example scenario:
Assuming a route with 60 moves,
Climber A gets to the 10th hold and falls. He/she will get 0 points.
Climber B reaches the 2nd last hold and falls. He/she gets 96 points ( 9*4 = 36 points, 10*3 = 30 points, 10*2 = 20 points, 10*1 = 10 points)

IFSC had previously had a different point distribution initially but they changed it to the current one after testing it out in the final World Cup in 2022.

5) We may not see some of our favorites climbing in Olympics 2024…

Olympians Shauna Coxsey and Akiyo Noguchi annouced their retirement after the Olympics event. Nathaniel Coleman, who won silver in the Men’s Combined, has decided to pursue outdoor adventures instead.

Shauna Coxsey was Great Britain’s hopeful for a podium finish but her long-term injuries deterred her performance. (You can find out more about Shauna Coxsey’s story in the latest Olympic climbing documentary, Climb For Gold. Read the synopsis here) Akiyo Noguchi decided to finish her 16-year climbing career at a high, and concluded that the Olympics will be her last time competing.

6)…But we are excited to see some new faces who may win Gold!

For the men’s competition, we were shocked when Adam Ondra and Tomoa Narasaki did not make the cut for a podium placement.

We might see both of them giving it another shot in the upcoming Olympics. Colin Duffy, who finished 7th place last year, will certainly be back with a vengeance. He is now the talk of the town for winning both the bouldering and lead competition in the IFSC World Cup in Innsbruck.

For the women’s competition, it is hard to imagine who will to top Janja Garnbret’s performance. Janja Garnbret is a masterclass of her own, and is winning lead competitions in the current IFSC season. However, that doesn’t mean her reign will be forever.

Laura Rogora is starting to show herself as a strong contender, especially in lead. Brooke Raboutou is looking much more confident in both boulder and lead and will definitely be vying for the top spot.

Which climbers will be in the Olympics 2024?

The earliest we will find out which climbers will qualify for the Olympics 2024 will be in August 2023 at the 2023 IFSC Climbing World Championships happening in Bern, Switzerland. 10 spots will come from this competition: the top 3 podium winners for combined Boulder & Lead and top 2 podium winners in Speed for each gender category.

Some new faces to watch out for the Olympics 2024 Climbing games:

Men’s: Jesse Grupper (USA), Mejdi Schalck (FRA), Meichi Narasaki (JPN), Lee Dohyun (KOR), Toby Roberts (GBR)

Women’s: Natalia Grossman (USA), Ai Mori (JPN), Futaba Ito (JPN), Anon Matsufuji (JPN), Zhilu Luo (CHN), Oriane Bertone (FRA), Hannah Meul (GER), Stasa Gejo (SBR), Ayala Kerem (ISR)

7) A State-of-the-art Climbing Venue For The Olympics

Paris 2024’s Sport Climbing scene will be held at Le Bourget Sport Climbing Venue in the Seine-Saint-Denis area. There will be five climbing walls including an indoor training wall and four outdoor walls (three for each climbing discipline, and one for competitors to warm up before the competition).

It’s a 7 km walk from the Olympic Village.

8) Well-versed Sports Commentators

Who can forget the horrible commentary across all national TV channels (with the exception of those who had world-class climbers like Jain Kim as commentators). Commentators who barely knew the sport came up with some creative one-liners which they thought would be befitting in the Olympics.

This time, 2024 Olympic Climbing in Paris has learned their lesson as former Olympian Petra Klinger will be taking the seat in the Commentary Box. (Shauna Coxsey and Matt Groom will be in Eurosports commentator box)

Some examples include: “Fingers as strong as legs”, “This is a textbook masterclass”, “Lats like a doorframe”, “deep into the route”, and the list goes on. Honestly these quotes sound like another kind of content altogether when reading out of context.

But the best part of it all: they don’t get their facts right.

When Nathaniel Coleman was on the wall, the commentators kept mentioning that his Bachelor of Computer Science degree will come in handy to solve the bouldering problems. Nathaniel later clarified that this is false in an online interview as he is a university drop out (although he did study computer science). Firstly, his degree is the least important thing in the Olympics and secondly, a little research does go a long way?

I missed the IFSC World Cup format where climbers who didn’t get pass each round had a chance to commentate with Matt Groom.

Japan will have no problem next year with Akiyo Noguchi’s retirement from professional climbing. She has been the host for most Japanese competitions including the recent Hachioji World Cup so her place as a commentator is likely secured. (Update: She did not host as she’s at Paris supporting husband Tomoa Narasaki)

Suggestions for the next Olympics commentator: Matt Groom, Albert Ok, Stasa Gejo, Alannah Yip, Shauna Coxsey, Tom Paul Randall (Lattice Training)

Olympic Climbing 2024 Qualifying Prediction:

Each NOC is entitled to a maximum of four climbers (two per gender) for the combined event of boulder and lead.

Qualifying events will start from August 2023 at BERN, Switzerland with the World Championship followed by Continental Qualifier from September until December 2023.

I have mentioned some names earlier on who may make their Olympics debut but if I could make a guess on who will be in this year, here are my predictions (bolded words are those who qualified):

Men’s Combined Boulder and Lead:

Yoshiyuki Ogata (JPN)
Meichi Narasaki (JPN)
Adam Ondra (CZE)
Mejdi Schalck (FRA)
Toby Roberts (GBR)
Maximillian Milne (GBR)
Lee Dohyun (KOR)
Chon Jongwon (KOR)
Colin Duffy (USA)
Jesse Grupper (USA)
Alberto Gines Lopez (ESP)
Yannick Flohe (GER)
Alexander Megos (GER)
Sean McColl (CAN)

Women’s Combined Boulder and Lead:

Natalia Grossman (USA)
Brooke Raboutou (USA)
Janja Garnbret (SLO)
Mia Krampl (SLO)
Ai Mori (JPN)
Futaba Ito (JPN)
Seo Chae-hyun (KOR)
Kim Ja-in (KOR)
Ayala Kerem (ISR)
Zhilu Luo (CHN)
Oriane Bertone (FRA)
Fanny Gibert (FRA)
Hannah Meul (GER)
Stasa Gejo (SBR)
Camilla Moroni (ITA)

FAQ

Is Campusing An Olympic Sport?

No, campusing is not an official Olympic sport category. The idea was generated by Climbing magazine as an April Fool’s joke on April 2022 but it was somehow picked up by Yahoo! Sports as a legitimate article. Another high intensity dynamic climbing event is definitely one too many for the athletes.

Where Is Olympic Climbing 2024 Held?

It is held at Le Bourget Sport Climbing Venue in Paris, France. It is a venue built specially for the Olympics.

Conclusion

Olympic climbing 2024 may seem a distant away but before you know it, we are in 2024! But one thing is for sure, we can’t wait for the Games to begin.

Hope you are excited for the development of sports climbing in the 2024 Olympics in Paris!