Janja Garnbret of Slovenia - the first women Olympic gold medalist in Sport Climbing (image: apnews).

2020 Olympic has finished, but for climbing fans, it was just the beginning. Sport Climbing made its Olympic debut this year as the sport raises in popularity as evidenced by the burgeoning climbing scene in Melbourne.

In the final, Janja Garnbret dominated the bouldering wall, before reaching the furthest point in Lead climbing to claim the first climbing Olympic gold medal for women.

In this combined event, the athletes had to compete in three disciplines: Speed, Bouldering, and Lead climbing. Their rankings in the three categories will be multiplied and the person with the lowest score wins.

Garnbret came fifth in the Speed final, but quickly redeemed herself and gaining first places in Bouldering and Lead.

Speed Climbing

In this event, climbers race up a 95-degree-angled wall to be the first to press a big button at 15 metres.

Having not performed too well in the Qualifying Round compared to the other finalists, Garnbret was also ranked fifth in the Final Speed Climbing. In this competition of strength and zero tolerance for mistakes, Polish Aleksandra Miroslaw set a world record and claimed first place. Miroslaw would have earned a well-deserved model if Speed Climbing were a separate event like it would be in Paris 2024.

In this round, athletes are paired and the winner in a race progresses into the next stage until all the rankings are settled. Garnbret’s first opponent was Jaubert who ended up with the second-best speed record. Looking only at their best time, Garnbret ‘could’ have finished higher had it not been for the unfortunate draw.

Bouldering

In this round, control and technique matter more as climbers have to solve tricky bouldering problems. Athletes do not have to wear a protective harness for this one as the challenges emphasise problem-solving rather than height reached. There are two checkpoints in each problem, the first is called “Zone” and the second is the “Top”.

Ideally, you would want to get to the top in all problems, but they have proved to be so tricky that only Garnbret with absolute control and precision could get to the top in two problems, and finished first in this discipline.

Lead

If Speed tests your strength and Bouldering tests your skill, then Lead Climbing adds endurance to the mix. Climbers try to get to the highest point while having to secure themselves by attaching their harness to safety checkpoints along the way.

Korean Chaehyun Seo made an impressive comeback by getting to the 35th hold and finished in second place, but Garnbret deservedly claimed the gold when she reached the 37th hold that nobody else could match. Having been climbing for a few years, it was much exciting to watch the top athletes competing at this world event. Hopefully, as the sport grows in popularity, we will see more diverse events for climbing.

Data source: www.olympics.com