• Climbing, whose finals take place this Thursday and Friday, made its big debut at the Olympics this week.

  • To get into the nails of the IOC, this sport had to cobble together a new format, bringing together three very distinct disciplines in a combined.

  • Not ideal for athletes, but they know that it was necessary to go through this to settle down before seeing the format evolve in the coming years.

From our special correspondent in Tokyo,

That's it, rock climbing is in the family. After the men on Tuesday, the women in turn inaugurated the first Olympic walls in their history on Wednesday. “A pride” for the French Julia Chanourdie, despite the disappointment to have missed the meeting. Only 13th in qualifying, she will not participate in the final, scheduled for Friday. Anouk Jaubert, the other tricolor engaged, will be on the other hand after having snatched the 8th and last folding seat.

The two women have all the same in common to have appreciated this unique combined format, specially designed for the Olympics. To get into the nails of the IOC, which only had one medal (per gender) to provide for this new sport, climbing had to do only one event with three normally very distinct disciplines: speed (a race in pairs where you have to climb a vertical wall of 15 meters as quickly as possible), the boulder (four routes of 4.5 meters that you can try as many times as you want in a limited time) and the difficulty ( a 15-meter one-shot course).

🇫🇷🧗 Beginning of the women's combined climbing event, Anouck Jaubert, our Frenchwoman, sets the second fastest time in speed (7.12) 🔝


Julia Chanourdie is 8th with 8.17 for her best time!



Follow the rest of the qualifiers live ▶ https://t.co/KhtK42sqKk pic.twitter.com/9hK8Hg7uox

- francetvsport (@francetvsport) August 4, 2021

Each athlete, more specialist in one or the other in normal times, therefore had to prepare for the consequences.

No easy task.

It's a bit like asking a shot putter to discus for the needs of a new event.

There are still some advantages.

"All the training phases are interesting, we discover something else," observes Jaubert.

It requires developing a lot of different qualities, physical, tactical, mental.

I think it's a nice compendium of competition climbing.

It is true that for laymen like us, this format allows to have a rather broad vision of this sport that we rarely (never) see on TV.

And to taste its rhythmic and spectacular side.

"As if the others were starting 100 meters in advance"

He still has his detractors. Obviously, specialists see somewhat baroque results, which do not necessarily reflect the level of the athletes, with a complex points system that had to be tinkered for the occasion and which does not help visibility - the ranking final is established by multiplying the results of the three disciplines, the lowest total wins. The slightest weak point is severely punished. “It's a bit as if the others started with 100 meters ahead in speed, because I'm really not gifted, illustrated Tuesday the Czech Adam Ondra, real star of the discipline and 5th in qualifying. I have really tried to improve these last two years, but we all have a certain limit. "

The vast majority of athletes, including our Czech friend, however, consider that they were there this year to establish their sport in the landscape, before thinking more about the sporting interest itself in the next editions.

The German Alexander Mergos, who failed him in 9th place, sums up the general thinking:

The format kind of destroys climbing as we know it, at least competitive climbing, but that's the price to pay to then be entitled to more medals.

Whether it's good for sport or not, we'll see later, but at least we're at the Olympics.

It's worth it for the future.

"

“For these first Games, that's what was needed,” adds Julia Chanourdie.

We did not want there to be only one discipline, and then at least we ended our day well exhausted, we did not come just for a small route and presto, finished.

“In the good points department, the Frenchwoman also notes the suspenseful scenario, with a suspended classification until the last passage of the last test.

However, she will not be unhappy to return to her specialties, bouldering and difficulty, she who became at the end of last year the third woman in the world to climb a route classified 9b.

“We still want to train in our basic discipline,” she continues.

Matter of pleasure… and the prospect of a medal, too.

A priori, she performed the last speed run of her career on Wednesday, just like Anouk Joubert, a speed specialist, certainly tried to tame her last blocks.

In three years, in Paris, the competition should be split into two, speed on one side, bouldering and difficulty on the other.

In the meantime, no one will spit on the medals distributed in Tokyo.

And especially not the French Mickaël Mawem, competing this morning (10:00 am French time) for the grand final.

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