Speed climbing: Difference between revisions

Type of climbing

Speed climbing is a climbing discipline in which speed is the ultimate goal.^[1] Speed climbing is done on rocks, walls and poles and is only recommended for highly skilled and experienced climbers.^[2]

Competition speed climbing, which takes place on an artificial and standardized climbing wall, is the main form of speed climbing. However, there are types of speed climbing that take place outdoors, such as climbing famous big wall climbing routes in the shortest times, notable examples being on El Capitan in Yosemite National Park.

Competition speed climbing[edit]

Competition speed climbing as governed by the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) takes place on 15-metre (49 ft) artificial walls. Competitors climb a 5-degree overhanging IFSC-certified wall, with an auto-belaying system from the top of the wall.^[3]

Since 2007 the IFSC has created a standard wall for the world record. The standard has a simple rule and it involves climbers competing on the same route, side by side, and whoever reaches the top first wins.^[4] The holds and order are always identical, and the difficulty rating is around F6b (approximately YDS 5.10c), which is a level most recreational climbers could complete. The IFSC also sanctions speed climbing competitions^[5] and those events that entail world record attempts.^[6] Speed climbing was one of the three climbing modalities included in the combined format at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, along with lead and bouldering. Beginning at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, speed climbing will be its own standalone competition, separate from the lead and bouldering combined event.^[7]

Time is determined by mechanical-electric timing (the competitor leaves the starting pad and strikes a switch at the top of the route). When mechanical-electric timing is used, the climbing time is displayed with an accuracy of one-hundredth of a second. In the rules modifications in 2018, the possibility to use manual timing was removed, and the mechanical-electric timing should record with a precision of 1/1000 second. This precision is only used for ranking in case of a tie. Further, the timing system needs to announce a false start, which is considered a start earlier than 0.1 seconds after the starting beep.^[8]

• Two climbers compete against each other on the Speed Wall (Chamonix 2018)

• Full view of the standardized Speed Wall

• Start position. The climber stands on a pressure plate foot trigger, which is used for detecting false starts.

• Hitting a button at the top of the wall stops the timer. The climber is secured by an auto-belay device.

• Large standardised speed climbing hold.

• Small standardised speed climbing hold.

World champions[edit]

The defending men’s and women’s speed climbing world champions are Danyil Boldyrev of Ukraine and Natalia Kałucka of Poland, respectively; they won their respective speed events at the 2021 IFSC Climbing World Championships in Moscow, Russia.^[9] Veddriq Leonardo of Indonesia and Emma Hunt of the United States were the overall men’s and women’s winners for the 2021 IFSC Climbing World Cup speed series.^[10]

World and Olympic records[edit]

Since Qixin Zhong of China ran the 15-meter standardized wall in 6.26 seconds in 2011, the world record has been broken 13 times, seven times in 2021 and 2022, most recently 4.984 seconds by Veddriq Leonardo of Indonesia in April 2023. That represents a drop of 20 percent since 2011. Similarly, the women’s speed climbing record has been broken 14 times…