After making its debut at the Tokyo Games, sport climbing returns for Paris 2024 with a new competition format. Read on to learn more about how each of the two medal events will be contested.

Sport climbing will have two medal events for Paris 2024: a standalone speed climbing event and a combined event which includes both bouldering and lead climbing.

Previously, at the Tokyo Olympics, all three disciplines were combined into one single event.

A total of 28 athletes (14 men, 14 women) will compete in the speed event, and a total of 40 athletes (20 men, 20 women) will compete in the bouldering and lead combined event.

The competition starts with all 14 athletes participating in a seeding round. Each athlete will climb the wall twice — once in Lane A and once in Lane B — and only the fastest of their two times will count. (If two athletes have identical times, then their second climbs will be used to break the tie.) Those times are then used to rank the athletes.

Next are the elimination heats. First, climbers will race head-to-head based on their rankings (1st vs. 14th, 2nd vs. 13th, etc.). The winner of each heat advances to the quarterfinals, as does the fastest climber who loses their heat (known as the "lucky loser").

From here, there are three elimination rounds: the quarterfinals, semifinals and medal finals. The winner of each heat moves on to the next round, while the loser is eliminated, with the exception of the semifinals. The semifinal winners advance to the gold-medal final, while the semifinal losers compete in a bronze-medal race.

For more details about the rules of speed climbing, check out our article on Olympic sport climbing rules.

There are two rounds for the combined event: a semifinal and a final. Both rounds will include separate bouldering and lead sections.

For more details about the rules of bouldering and lead climbing, check out our article on Olympic sport climbing rules.

Semifinal
The semifinal will feature all 20 climbers.

In the bouldering portion, athletes sit in isolation and are not allowed to preview the route before they compete. Once they emerge, they are given five minutes to complete all four boulder problems, and up to four athletes can compete simultaneously. Climbers earn 25 points for each boulder successfully topped, but if they fail to reach the top of one, they can still earn 5 points for reaching the first checkpoint or 10 points for reaching the second checkpoint. For each failed attempt before successfully reaching a top or a checkpoint, 0.1 points are deducted from their score.

Each climber can earn up to 100 points, but doing so would require them to successfully top each of the four boulder problems in just one attempt.

In the lead portion, climbers are given a six-minute observation period before the start of the round. They will then have six minutes to ascend the wall as high as they can, but only one attempt is allowed. Points are awarded based on how high the climber ascends. The highest 40 holds on the wall are all assigned point values — 4 points for the highest 10 holds, 3 points for the next 10 holds, and so on. Moving unsuccessfully toward the next hold awards the athlete .01 points. Climbers can earn a maximum of 100 points by reaching the top of the wall in under six minutes.

Scores from the bouldering and lead portions are combined into an overall score — 100 points are available in each discipline, so 200 points is the maximum combined score each athlete can earn — and the climbers with the top eight overall scores advance to the final round.

Final
Eight athletes compete in the final round.

In the bouldering portion, the routes change for the final round. Athletes are given an eight-minute observation period before heading into isolation, and once they emerge, they have four minutes to complete as many boulder problems as possible. Only two athletes can compete simultaneously. Scoring works the same way as it does in the semifinal, with 100 points the maximum that a climber can earn.

In the lead climbing portion, the route also changes, Otherwise, the competition works the same way as in the semifinal. Once again, climbers can earn a maximum of 100 points by reaching the top of the wall in under six minutes.

Scores from the bouldering and lead portions are combined into an overall score (up to 200 points maximum) and the climber with the highest combined score is the winner.