Sport climbing makes its Olympic debut in Tokyo as a combined competition. The gold medalist will be the athlete that demonstrates well-rounded ability in the three climbing disciplines: speed climbing, bouldering, and lead climbing. Twenty athletes per gender will participate in the qualification phase, with the top eight advancing to the final round.
Ranking Points
At the end of each discipline within a round, athletes are ranked based on their performance from worst (20th in qualification, 8th in the final) to best (1st). Over the course of an entire round, each athlete will have accumulated three separate rankings, one per discipline. The three ranking values are then multiplied together to calculate an athlete’s combined ranking total, which determines the outcome of the competition. For example, an athlete that places 2nd in speed, 6th in bouldering, and 5th in lead will have a combined ranking total of 2 x 5 x 6 = 60 points. In sport climbing, as in golf, the lowest score wins.
Below are the results of the final round of the women’s combined competition at the 2019 World Sport Climbing Championships. Note how the final ranking was achieved based on the athletes’ rankings in the individual disciplines.
Athlete |
Speed Rank |
Boulder Rank |
Lead Rank |
Combined Tot. |
Final Rank |
Janja Garnbret (SLO) |
6 |
2 |
1 |
6x2x1 = 12 |
1st |
Akiyo Noguchi (JPN) |
7 |
1 |
3 |
7x1x3 = 21 |
2nd |
Shauna Coxey (GBR) |
2 |
3 |
7 |
2x3x7 = 42 |
3rd |
Aleksandra Miroslaw (POL) |
1 |
8 |
8 |
1x8x8 = 64 |
4th |
Miho Nonaka (JPN) |
4 |
4 |
5 |
4x4x5 = 80* |
5th |
Ai Mori (JPN) |
8 |
5 |
2 |
8x5x2 = 80* |
6th |
Futaba Ito (JPN) |
5 |
6 |
4 |
5x8x4 = 120 |
7th |
Petra Klingler (SUI) |
3 |
7 |
6 |
3x7x6 = 126 |
8th |
* If two climbers finish tied on ranking points at the end of a round, the athlete that placed better in two out of three disciplines is ranked higher.