The Olympics is on its way to Paris this year and with it the return of Olympic Sport Climbing. After debuting in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (held in 2021) climbing is back in the Olympics for a second time.
Want the lowdown on Olympic Sport Climbing? Read on for the full details.
When?
The Olympic Climbing events start on the 5th August and run through to the 10th August 2024.
There is loads of climbing action to see spread across the week culminating in the finals from Wednesday to Saturday,
Where?
The Olympic Sport Climbing will take place at Le Bourget Climbing venue - a new purpose built arena for the Olympics.
There will be four climbing walls, one each for Boulder, Lead and Sport plus an additional warm up wall.
What is the format of the Olympic Sport Climbing competition?
With a change from Tokyo this year there will be two sets of medals up for grabs for Climbing rather than one; Boulder & Lead (combined) and Speed.
With Speed now being a separate discipline and with its own medals up for grabs we have two climbing competitions taking place. If you are new to climbing - here is a brief run down of the different events.
Speed
Speed climbing is the 100 metre sprint of the climbing world - with two athletes going head to head to climb a 15m wall as fast as they can.
This is fast and furious with athletes going all out to climb as quickly as possible.
Boulder
The first of the combined disciplines - bouldering takes place on a 4.5m wall with competitors having a limited time period to climb the problems (the name for the routes boulders climb) in the fewest amount of tries.
Expect plenty of drama with athletes attempting dynamic moves to reach the top.
Lead
In the lead event, athletes have six minutes to climb as high as they can on a wall over 15m high.
This thrilling event sees the athletes' skill and endurance put to the test over a long climb.
Who is competing?
The best competition climbers from across the world will be taking part after a gruelling qualification process.
We are proud that two of the SCARPA UK team are amongst them - Molly Thompson-Smith and Erin McNeice.
We caught up with the pair to see how they are feeling pre-games. - you can read their thoughts here: Interview with Molly and Erin - Olympic Games.
