Really enjoyed the men's comp. Semi probably a bit too easy but made it pretty tense waiting too see whether Phillips made it in to the top six. Great achievement, when was the last time a British man got in to a world cup or champs final? Don't think i can remember it happening often.
Very good entertainment that combined final. What a mensch Jacob is!
Speed not such a spanner in the works as I imagined it would be. Over quickly, and essentially a consequential warm-up for the bouldering and lead, which work well back-to-back.
From the climber in me point of view it’s daft and not that interesting (is parkour boulder problems either??)
Haven't watched the men's yet but quite enjoyed the women's combined. Not sure why they couldn't just use the ranks for the individual events though? Will they have to do all three events on the same day in the olympics?I found the speed element a bit bollocks, what with the false starts. Not really sure why it has to be head to head rather than timing between leaving the pad and hitting the top. That way you would have a more accurate measure of climbing performance rather than timing the start perfectly. Maybe its just an attempt to add some entertainment in to an astonishingly boring event.
What you saw yesterday was a Combined Final, that is why you only saw head to head. In a full Combined comp you get 20 athletes racing the clock during Qualification, rather than each other, just like in a normal Speed WC.
How are the initial 20 selected Graeme? It would seem that there won't actually be any "speed" climbers getting through to the Olympics (if the selection process at Innsbruck is any indication)?
Despite there being a speed element, I really enjoyed the combined competition. Looked pretty brutal on the competitors though.
In 2020 the men's and women's finals will be on different days so the rest periods will be longer.