[fatneck]

Thought I'd clear this all up. Will has left GB climbing and gone to Czech to downgrade all of Ondra's routes and fabricate a beef between them. He's got the inside scoop that Netflix is starting production of 'climb to survive' and is ensuring he's got a good story arc to be one of the main characters. It will be centered around a new world series in which athletes compete for brands instead of countries. Shauna will be the over-caffeinated sugary drink company crew chief and so is trash talking existing federations to win favour and pillage the best athletes for her team. The IFSC can see the ship sinking so have cashed in the livestream rights for a quick buck whilst they still can.

  Brilliant!!

[EdGowSmith]

Thought I'd clear this all up. Will has left GB climbing and gone to Czech to downgrade all of Ondra's routes and fabricate a beef between them. He's got the inside scoop that Netflix is starting production of 'climb to survive' and is ensuring he's got a good story arc to be one of the main characters. It will be centered around a new world series in which athletes compete for brands instead of countries. Shauna will be the over-caffeinated sugary drink company crew chief and so is trash talking existing federations to win favour and pillage the best athletes for her team. The IFSC can see the ship sinking so have cashed in the livestream rights for a quick buck whilst they still can.

  (think you might be three days late though)

[danm]

Damn, and I thought he left because it was announced that for Paris 2024, Speed Abseiling was replacing Lead as one of the disciplines.

[mr chaz]

Damn, and I thought he left because it was announced that for Paris 2024, Speed Abseiling was replacing Lead as one of the disciplines.

It's all just a race to the bottom

[36chambers]

The best rock climbers aren't the always the best comp climbers. And vice versa.
Comp climbing has suddenly got a lot more serious and the days of being the best climber outdoors and being able to rock up at a World Cup and win that too are long gone. Ondra proves this on a regular basis (not that fair - he does win some big comps, but on paper he should win all of them!)
Winning a qualification round where there is no pressure, and having the head to win a big final with the eyes of the TV viewing world on you are different games. It's much easier to climb when there's no pressure, but dealing with pressure is a huge part of comp climbing.
I think GB Climbing are backing dedicated comp athletes who are committed long term to comp climbing. They are looking to develop athletes for Olympic Games in 8 or 12 years time - not who's cranking now.
The progression to Olympic level sport has and will continue to change the sport of competition climbing out of all recognition from what we have known before, and many of these changes will not be pretty. They will almost all come about because of 'experts' who can smell money coming onto the sport.

In all fairness if guys like Tomoa, Kokoro, and Yoshiyuki actually spent more time bouldering outdoors they would easily be among the world's elite. Tomoa quite recently did a consensus v15 in 3 tries which is totally mind boggling. I'm sure if he actually dedicated 10+ sessions to a proj he could send the very hardest boulders in the world..

But Tomoa also cried when he couldn't do The Swarm, so perhaps anything that takes more than 4 minutes is too much for him to handle.

[36chambers]

Maybe a waste of money in terms of sustained comp results, but it sounds like it was formative in your climbing life which is significant on various levels and an inspiration to many. Many would consider it BMC money well spent, whatever the intended purpose. I think regardless of how narrow and targeted comp support becomes, it will keep producing collateral positives for individuals and the broader world of climbing, even if the system is trying its utmost to produce one result and one result alone.

I'd rather they'd buy more crags (no offence Mr Mocho )

[Paul B]

Maybe a waste of money in terms of sustained comp results, but it sounds like it was formative in your climbing life which is significant on various levels and an inspiration to many. Many would consider it BMC money well spent, whatever the intended purpose. I think regardless of how narrow and targeted comp support becomes, it will keep producing collateral positives for individuals and the broader world of climbing, even if the system is trying its utmost to produce one result and one result alone.

This is a fair point. The people winning comps during my era have likewise gone on to be some of the most impressive climbers outdoors. Smitton routinely won when I was his age and in the women's field it was Twyford, Finlay and Powell (hardly shit names in terms of achievement).