Climbing mode receives criticism: “A brutal mess”

In combination mode, after more than four hours of competition, it once again proved difficult to predict who would receive which color of medal until the end. In addition to this tension, there was also occasional criticism. This primarily related to the failure to fill Bassa Mawem's orphaned final place after the Frenchman was unable to compete due to an injury.

As a result, the Czech Adam Ondra, the weakest speed climber in the final field, had a first-round bye and thus an easy points advantage. “The fairest decision would have been for the fastest athlete to get the free run, not the slowest,” said Jakob Schubert, who acted as athlete representative and is also Michael Piccolruaz’s training partner. Unfair procedure It was clear among those involved that this procedure was not mega-fair. “You have to blame the international association for not being perfectly prepared for the situation. It took them a day and a half to decide,” said Schubert. Mawem had already been injured in qualifying two days earlier. “It brought a brutal mess into the speed competition,” says Schubert. Alberto Gines Lopez won in the speed, it was the foundation for gold.

The men's medalists: Nathaniel Coleman, Alberto Gines Lopez and Jakob Schubert. © ANSA / Dimitris Tosidis

At just 18 years old, he is the youngest Spanish gold medalist in Olympic history. “Alberto wasn’t the best at bouldering and leading. But everything worked out for him in terms of speed and now he is an Olympic champion,” noted Schubert. “I'm super happy for him, he's a cool guy.” And with a wink: “He still has games to play. He could have left the golden one to the old irons. But he didn’t want that, I understand that too.”

Like everyone else, the Iberian had his difficulties on the boulders, only Nathaniel Coleman, who ultimately came in second, achieved a top on the second boulder. No one managed to do this on the third, but everyone succeeded on the first except for the winner Gines Lopes. In order to prevent such a scenario in the future, two sets of medals will be awarded at the next Summer Games - in the combination of bouldering and lead and in speed. This is intended to increase fairness – and silence the critics.

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Climbing mode receives criticism: “A brutal mess”

The Olympic premiere of sport climbing in its first final on Thursday in Tokyo was not only about the medal winners, but also the format itself was the focus.

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