An epic Bouldering round sets up a big showdown in Lead

Here were the biggest and best moments from the Lead portion, the “grand finale” of the men’s Sport Climbing discipline at the 2024 Olympics.

Today’s Bouldering final was everything the semifinal was not—and thank goodness for that.

How does scoring work? How do athletes train? How do the disciplines differ? Why do some climbers wear two different shoes? etc.

This might be the single most exciting Speed competition we've ever watched.

The nearly perfect semifinal route was a fair and exciting test for the athletes. But some big names—including USA’s Natalia Grossman—didn’t make it through.

While mortal injury is highly unlikely, sport climbing is still hard on the body.

In the women’s Olympic Speed event, Aleksandra Mirosław was flawless and dominant. But there were some surprises—and amazingly close races—in the battle for silver and bronze.

After today's tumultuous (and poorly set) lead semifinal, where numerous top names struggled, Friday's final will be a mix of favorites and upstarts.

“Yes!”—“No!”—“Was it even any different?”

Sam Watson and Veddriq Leonardo keep swapping records. But in Paris Watson has raised the bar yet higher.

Three years ago, Jesse Grupper was climbing outside and working full time. He wasn't sure he wanted that to change. Here's how it did.

An interview with Zach Hammer, one of the fastest climbers in the country.

American Sam Watson runs 4.75!

Janja Garnbret, Sorato Anraku, and Jakob Schubert are clear crowd favorites. But there are plenty of others who could snag gold.

Yesterday's men's semifinal bouldering round was too hard—with just seven tops in total and only one athlete topping two boulders—but the setters totally redeemed themselves in today's women's semifinal.

There are two major differences between the Olympic Sport Climbing event (singular) that debuted in Tokyo and the Sport Climbing events (plural) that we’re watching in Paris this week.

Nine highlights (and lowlights) of the women’s Speed Climbing seeding and elimination rounds.

The setters compressed the difficulty into the tops of each of the four boulders. It made for a slow start and an exhilarating finish.

There are two medal events in Olympic Sport Climbing: Speed climbing and Boulder & Lead Combined. Here's how scoring works.

Olympic athletes can’t afford a single foot slip in the Lead and Speed events, where a fall disqualifies you immediately. So they're very particular about which shoes they use.

The men’s boulders, for instance, are as hard as V14. We caught up with Paris’s head Boulder setter to learn what strengths and skills a climber needs to grab gold.

Some climbers who didn't qualify for the Olympics may be heartbroken. But others redirected their goals. This has made at least one pundit (me) quite happy.

If you’re new either to climbing (the sport) or Sport Climbing (the Olympic event), you may be baffled by all the jargon. These are the terms the announcers are using.

The fact that anyone could win is why we’ll all tune in starting August 5.

Some rivalries are just as career-defining as the actual accolades athletes earn on the wall.

Speed climbers were dealt a rough hand at the Tokyo Olympics. This time around, we'll finally get to see who the best speed climbers in the world are.

With a field this stacked, it's hard to pick winners. But these eight women are leading the pack.

With an athlete field this stacked, it's hard to pick winners. But these nine climbers are all poised to excel in Paris.

Becoming an Olympic climber involves submitting your body to intense training loads. And for that training to work, you've got to fuel correctly.

It's been a long road to get here. Let's take a look at the history.

The United States is sending a full slate of eight climbers to Paris—four for the Speed discipline and four for the Combined Boulder & Lead.

How to watch Olympic Sport Climbing at Paris 2024 (Lead & Boulder Combined, or Speed).

Implausible as it sounds, Aleksandra Miroslaw of Poland did just that in Tokyo 2020's Sport Climbing combined event.

The Finals were a wild ride, with who would win and who wouldn't shifting like sand as the competition progressed. What didn't change? The grit and courage shown by all the athletes, as captured by the lens of photographer Ryu Voelkel.

This past year Brooke Raboutou went outside and climbed in Rocky Mountain National Park. Was that any kind of factor? Just maybe.

Brooke Raboutou didn't medal, but she gave an OIympic performance, and is worthy of being on a podium by herself.

Alex Johnson, who was an early peer on the U.S. Team, recalls the time Coleman won his "first" silver. And what made him stand out.

Sport Climbing was exhausting to watch, four days of high-level focus from the athletes and spectators. It was at times a bumpy and confusing road with many forks, most generated by an oddball scoring system. Here, we present the highs and lows.

Check out Matt Samet's author page.

The best in the world dominated Boulder finals while Raboutou's strong showing puts her in good shape heading into Lead finals, where the Gold, Silver and Bronze in climbing's first-ever Olympics will be determined.

Check out Francis Sanzaro's author page.

Smart setting is giving bouldering the traction it needs to stay an Olympic sport. Can lead keep up?

The speed wall didn't go well for most of the climbers, then one boulder was too easy, the others too hard.

Colin Duffy gives a breakdown on what it was like to compete in Sport Climbing's first Olympic event.

In a surprise lead finish the young Spanish climber took the gold while Ondra finished out of the medals.

Check out Steven Potter's author page.

The mens' speed final was filled with slips and a false start. Ondra had personal best.

Don't know who will be competing tonight? Here's the list.

Janja got off to a terrible start, speed PRs fell, Seo proved she was worthy, Nonaka hurt her wrist, and other news from today's women's sport climbing qualifiers.

Check out Francis Sanzaro's author page.

If the Olympics happened in her era, she'd have been there. Now Hill is watching Brooke, whom she has known since the young climber's infancy.

It's the Olympics anything can happen, but let's make a few predictions anyway.

A torn biceps tendon has knocked the Frenchman out of finals potentially upsetting the medal apple cart.

The Games seemed too clean, too organized, too commercial to ever accept climbing and for likewise that climbers would never accept it.

Check out Delaney Miller's author page.

Check out Alison Osius's author page.

Personal bests and slips shake up the leader board as Olympic women race to position going into Boulder.

Now that climbing has been viewed by millions, what are the ramifications? How did it stack up against other sports?

The night was full of twists and turns, with underdogs giving top-dog performance, and the eight climbers advancing to the finals were only half expected.

The night was full of twists and turns, with underdogs giving top-dog performance, and the eight climbers advancing to the finals were only half expected.

Men's Qualifications: Our on-site photographers John Glassberg and Jess Talley captured climbing's Olympians on the very first event.

The men's Combined Qualifiers have concluded with two Americans advancing, while Adam Ondra passes through.

Check out Delaney Miller's author page.

20 of the world's best competition climbers squared off in the sport's Olympic debut. Team USA, Colin Duffy and Nathaniel Coleman, had strong performance. Adam Ondra, while not so fast, landed in a solid position—he wasn't last—going into Boulder and Lead.

Our on site photographers Jon Glassberg and Jess Talley captured climbing's Olympians before they take the big stage.

Check out Gym Climber's author page.

Watching underdogs win surprise gold medals is one of the best parts of the Olympics. Here are some of the most unexpected wins in the history of the games — including two that changed running forever.

Check out Gym Climber's author page.

Check out Gym Climber's author page.

Team USA, Kyra Condie, Nathaniel Coleman, Brooke Raboutou and Colin Duffy go on the world stage with their fellow Olympians.

Check out The Editors's author page.

Check out John Burgman's author page.

Garrett Gregor, Olympic routesetter, reports from Tokyo.

With climbing's debut in the Olympics just days away, the athletes are already getting their game on.

Check out The Editors's author page.

A lot of the world's top climbers won't be in the Olympics, here's why.

Political scientist and former Team USA athlete Jules Boykoff explains why the Tokyo Olympics could finally break the IOC and change the games forever.

The least favorite discipline for most Olympic climbers, speed climbing and its unforgiving nature could put some medal contenders in the hole at the onset.