After making its Olympic debut at the Tokyo Games three years ago, sport climbing returned to Paris with a new two-event format. The sport was divided into a bouldering/lead combined event and a separate speed climbing event.
Rather than rewarding the most well-rounded, consistent climbers, the separation of speed from bouldering/lead increased the medal opportunities available for climbers who specialize in certain disciplines. This is generally seen as an improvement from Tokyo because the speed discipline requires a different skillset than that in boulder and lead.
The thrill of the separated disciplines opened the door for double the amount of athletes to make history and break world records on sport climbing's largest stage.
Medal Table
| Country | 🥇-🥈-🥉 | Total |
|---|---|---|
| Poland | 1 - 0 - 1 | 2 |
| Great Britain | 1 - 0 - 0 | 1 |
| Indonesia | 1 - 0 - 0 | 1 |
| Slovenia | 1 - 0 - 0 | 1 |
| China | 0 - 2 - 0 | 2 |
| United States of America | 0 - 1 - 1 | 2 |
| Japan | 0 - 1 - 0 | 1 |
| Austria | 0 - 0 - 2 | 2 |
Men's bouldering and lead combined
In a shocking twist, Sorato Anraku, the heavy favorite to win Olympic gold in men's bouldering and lead combined, took silver. The 17-year-old Japanese climber led the field throughout the semifinal round and final boulder round, but uncharacteristically fell in the early part of the highest 10 holds on the final lead route.
Instead, it was Great Britain's Toby Roberts who became the Olympic champion. He was one of only three climbers who topped at least two boulders in the first round of the final, giving him a large advantage heading into the lead portion, where he earned 92.1 points — one of the highest lead climbing scores. He won with a total score of 155.2 points — 9.8 points higher than Anraku.
Lead specialist Jakob Schubert of Austria had a mediocre boulder score of 43.6, but made up for it with a near-perfect lead score of 96 points for a combined total of 139.6 points and the bronze medal.
American Colin Duffy was in medal contention for most of the competition but was bumped from bronze medal position after Anraku started his ascent up the lead wall.
Men's bouldering/lead combined medalists
🥇Toby Roberts (GBR)
🥈Sorato Anraku (JPN)
🥉Jakob Schubert (AUT)
Women's bouldering and lead combined
Slovenia's Janja Garnbret, who's won 45 World Cup events and is an eight-time world champion, proved once again why she's the master of bouldering and lead climbing. Garnbret successfully defended her combined sport climbing Olympic gold medal in Paris after winning the first Olympic sport climbing gold medal in Tokyo when bouldering/lead was combined with speed climbing.
American Brooke Raboutou was hot on Garnbret's heels. Raboutou and Garnbret, who are close friends, were the only athletes to top three out of the four boulder problems. They both had strong lead climbs, but Garnbret climbed slightly higher to secure gold. Raboutou won silver and became the first American women to win an Olympic medal in sport climbing.
Lead specialist Jessica Pilz of Austria was able to come back from a weaker boulder score to slide into third place after a powerful climb in the lead round.
Women's bouldering/lead combined medalists
🥇Janja Garnbret (SLO)
🥈Brooke Raboutou (USA)
🥉Jessica Pilz (AUT)
Men's speed
American Sam Watson became the fastest vertical man after he broke the men's speed climbing world record with his Olympic bronze medal run-time of 4.74 seconds — just 0.01 seconds faster than the world record he set in the qualification round.
Watson lost his semifinal race against China's Wu Peng, leading him to climb against Iran's Reza Alipour in the small final for third.
Indonesia's Veddriq Leonardo and Wu both climbed their personal best times in the gold medal match. Leonardo had a weaker start than Wu, but pushed harder and faster up the wall. He won the first Olympic gold in men's speed climbing with a run time of 4.75 seconds, two hundredths of a second quicker than Wu.
Men's speed climbing medalists
🥇Veddriq Leonardo (INA)
🥈Wu Peng (CHN)
🥉Sam Watson (USA)
Women's speed
Poland's Aleksandra Miroslaw made her mark during the Olympic debut of women's speed. She broke her own world record twice on her way to qualifying for the final; first climbing the wall in 6.21 seconds during the seeding heat and then ascending it in 6.06 seconds during the elimination heat.
In the final, she flew up the wall in only 6.10 seconds to claim the Olympic champion title — 0.08 seconds faster than China's Deng Lijuan, who took silver.
Miroslaw's teammate, Aleksandra Kalucka ran her personal best time of 6.34 seconds to win bronze in the small final against Indonesia's Rajiah Sallsabillah.
Women's speed climbing medalists
🥇Aleksandra Miroslaw (POL)
🥈Deng Lijuan (CHN)
🥉Aleksandra Kalucka (POL)