On the vertical wall (daily newspaper Junge Welt)

The professional climbing sport is on the program for the first time at the Olympics. In the Aomi Urban Sports Park near Tokyo, 20 men and 20 women from a total of 19 countries will be competing against each other from the beginning of August. It is measured in a kind of three-way battle. The competition brings together the individual disciplines of bouldering, speed and lead climbing. After a qualifying round, the best six men and women each contest a final round.

Bouldering is climbing close to the ground at jump height. The athletes complete a kind of course on a vertical or heavily overhanging wall – the so-called bouldering problems. The handles and steps are sometimes a few millimeters small or round and flat, so that holding them securely is almost impossible. Sport requires maximum body tension, coordination, balance, equilibrium and strength. Bouldering has experienced a boom in recent years. Recreational sport is popular because it takes place without previous knowledge, hardly any equipment and without a climbing partner.

In the speed climbing discipline, two athletes compete in direct comparison. You sprint up a climbing wall 15 meters high and slightly overhanging at five degrees. Where inexperienced people would struggle for half an hour, top athletes need just under ten seconds. The so-called vertical sprint is all about speed, strength, as well as gripping and stepping precision; usually tenths of a second decide victory.

The actual sport climbing – also called difficulty climbing – takes place with the lead. Starting from the ground and secured with a rope, the athletes have to conquer a 20 meter high climbing route within a time limit. The maximum height is usually compared, because only the best manage the entire route: Climbing the wall, which often overhangs by up to 30 degrees, is too strenuous.

The qualifying competitions for the Olympic premiere were complicated. Strict quota regulations based on gender, nation and continent should apparently avoid athletes from a few countries – for example Japan, USA or France – dominating the competition. Jan Hojer (two-time European champion in bouldering) and Alexander Megos (vice world champion in lead climbing) compete for the team from Germany, women did not qualify.

Jakob Schubert from Austria expects a medal for the men. He is a three-time world champion and won 21 world cups. Three-time world champion Tomoa Narasaki from Japan and Adam Ondra from the Czech Republic are among the favorites. He has won dozens of titles in various disciplines over the past few years. With four world championships won, multiple second and third placements and a total of 14 World Cup victories, the 28-year-old is at the peak of his career.

Janja Garnbret from Slovenia is one of the favorites. The 22-year-old has already won a world championship six times and even managed the triple in 2019 in the disciplines bouldering, lead and the combination that will also take place at the Olympics. Akiyo Noguchi from Japan would crown her long sports career with a medal. The 32-year-old never became world champion – four times second, three times third – but was able to win 21 world cup tournaments. The pursuers include Kyra Condie and Brooke Raboutou (both USA) and Miho Nonaka (Japan). However, the 24-year-old Nonaka has to cure a knee injury that she sustained at the Bouldering World Cup in Innsbruck at the end of June.