[joel182]

7/8 male finalists in Briancon are Japanese  surely that's some sort of record?

And 9 in the top 12! EpicTV put out a that showed off some of the Japanese Climbing Team's training facilities and their climbers seem to be supported in a way that's so far ahead of what's imaginable in the UK.

[Duma]

Molly in finals after lots of 9ths this year!

[jwi]

7/8 male finalists in Briancon are Japanese  surely that's some sort of record?

And Hannes Puman spent most of this winter training in Japan!

[thunderbeest]

The height of the male competitors varies from 162 to 177.
That's all of them under average for Europe and most of them even quite a bit for Japan. Do you think the pool of climbers is mostly under average or is this due to route setting?

Have the top climbers grown shorter over the years?

[jwi]

They have always been short. Like gymnasts. When strength to weigh ratio is important, male athletes are short and female are prepubescent. (There are other factors in climbing, of course).

[crimpinainteasy]

They have always been short. Like gymnasts. When strength to weigh ratio is important, male athletes are short and female are prepubescent. (There are other factors in climbing, of course).

Although I don't have any hard data to support it it definitely feels like the average height of male podiums in both boulder and lead is decreasing over time. It's pretty rare to see a person over 5'10 in boulder or lead finals these days compared to 5 years ago. Perhaps the more dynamic and powerful new school style suits smaller climbers better.

[jwi]

Unless someone spend a lot of time gathering data I think it would be very difficult to assert. I assume that data on length is not saved on any database in europe as that is likely to conflict with GDPR.

I have this old chart I made on the height of elite (RP ≥ 9a+) rock climbers some four years ago:



Removing the three women from the data, the average height of these climbers is lower than population height (≈ spanish + french average male height ≈(176 + 178)/2 = 177 cm).

For lead competition, I can just think of some simple examples. François Legrand was tall for a comp climber at 178 cm, and he won a ton of years, then came the Petits who are short and Chabot who's even shorter. Patxi Usobiaga is 174 cm and then Ramón Julián Puigblanque is less than 160 cm. Sachi Amma is fairly short. I think Adam Ondra is the only climber taller than 180 cm who's won the world cup?

[sirlockoff]

I can't think of anyone else taller than 180cm+ who has won world cup  in lead, interesting indeed! On the bouldering side things are not as sad (Hojer was successful competition climber with loads of golds, Narasaki brother got just silver, jerney kruder gold),

All of the athlete history is recorded here:

https://www.ifsc-climbing.org/index.php/athletes

along with their qualifications & placements & their height

[edshakey]

Kinda depends on your "taller than" vs "taller than or equal to" statement, but Jesse Grupper was the first person that came to mind, and turns out he's 180cm. Not thought of others yet though 

[Fiend]

Quick question for the now absent GraemeA:

Bolt covers - these are placed to avoid any contentious issues with climbers brushing bolts with their feet or even standing on them. Is it allowed to accidentally brush the bolt covers?? Or what about deliberately?? If so, would it be allowed to scum a toe underneath the bolt cover where presumably there is more grip due to the bolt itself?

[remus]

Quick question for the now absent GraemeA:

Bolt covers - these are placed to avoid any contentious issues with climbers brushing bolts with their feet or even standing on them. Is it allowed to accidentally brush the bolt covers?? Or what about deliberately?? If so, would it be allowed to scum a toe underneath the bolt cover where presumably there is more grip due to the bolt itself?

I think the point in the bolt covers is that, per the rules, they count as holds, so you could try and stand on one if you wanted to (but they're very slippery and should offer minimal advantage). If you scummed underneath on the bolt/draw itself then you'd be disqualified.

[Fiend]

Cheers RemusA. I guess that would be pretty easy to judge too.

[jwi]

All of the athlete history is recorded here:

https://www.ifsc-climbing.org/index.php/athletes

along with their qualifications & placements & their height

There is almost no historic data on heights. Even for world-cup winners like the Petit brothers the heights are missing. Even for Legrand, the greatest male competition climber of all time, the personal info is missing.

[jwi]

Kinda depends on your "taller than" vs "taller than or equal to" statement, but Jesse Grupper was the first person that came to mind, and turns out he's 180cm. Not thought of others yet though

Jesse Gruper has won a single world cup competition, but not the world cup. But when I say taller that I mean > 180 cm. Jorg Verhoeven is the tallest winner of the entire world cup season, except Ondra, and he is exactly 180 cm tall.

[edshakey]

Jesse Gruper has won a single world cup competition, but not the world cup. But when I say taller that I mean > 180 cm. Jorg Verhoeven is the tallest winner of the entire world cup season, except Ondra, and he is exactly 180 cm tall.

Correct, I was more just replying to comments above about "podiums" and "winners". But to your message about the top climbers in comp history, I'd agree that Jesse wouldn't be anywhere near that yet.

Adam is a really outlier it seems!

[sirlockoff]

normalize his neck and he'd probably be less than 180

[moose]

They have always been short. Like gymnasts. When strength to weigh ratio is important, male athletes are short and female are prepubescent. (There are other factors in climbing, of course).

Although I don't have any hard data to support it it definitely feels like the average height of male podiums in both boulder and lead is decreasing over time. It's pretty rare to see a person over 5'10 in boulder or lead finals these days compared to 5 years ago. Perhaps the more dynamic and powerful new school style suits smaller climbers better.

Presumably, if it was just a matter of strength-to-weight ratio, there would be a similar trend for outdoor climbing. Does anyone know if there is?  Or is there an issue peculiar to indoor climbing? E.g. setters want to avoid any possibility of setting moves impossible for shorter climbers, so they err on the side of making problems that, while possible for all, are disproportionately hard for the tall?

PS I'll admit that at 191 cm my views a little biased in this regard - when problems / cruxes are easy for the tall it's obvious - missing out holds, using big, low footholds - but when it's harder (being bunched, having to lean out to accommodate legs, effect of increased weight / larger fingers etc) it's more subtle.

[jwi]

Presumably, if it was just a matter of strength-to-weight ratio, there would be a similar trend for outdoor climbing. Does anyone know if there is? 

Cf. https://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,33522.msg679844.html#msg679844

[GraemeA]

Who was the last Brit to win a lead world Cup?

Having not really followed it Vickers is the first name that jumps to mind but he may not have. I can picture another bloke but can't remember is name, a bit later. Possibly naughties.

Ian Vickers never won a World Cup. Simon Nadin 1990 is the last.

The Darwen Weasel aka Ian Vickers won the European Championship in Lead sometime in the 90's and also won the X-Games when it was a big deal but he never won a World Cup. I think his best WC result was 3rd in Moscow 1995 when he actually fell off before the 1st bolt but the officials (including me) ordered a rest of the route when lots of people fell off that low

[James Malloch]

Is there anywhere to watch the Bern Qualifications online?

Discovery looks to have:

Womens boulder Semi & Final on Friday.

Men’s boulder Semi & Final on Saturday

Mixed Lead semi and final on Sunday

Then i presume they will also have the combined semi and final next week but the schedule doesn't go that far ahead.

[edshakey]

I'd be inclined to bet that they won't be broadcast, just like the world cups haven't been. Which is a shame, given there's not exactly a limit to streams they can have online. I guess it's just a money saver for camera operators, producer, commentator, etc.?

I would have liked to watch them, but as long as they have good coverage semis + finals of lead + boulder + combined, then that's decent. So far this year's coverage has been ok, certainly better than some we've seen!

Fingers crossed Toby can seal it at this first opportunity. Given it's a whole year til Paris, qualifiers here might be some of the first athletes to get selected, for any sport?

[James Malloch]

I'd be inclined to bet that they won't be broadcast, just like the world cups haven't been. Which is a shame, given there's not exactly a limit to streams they can have online. I guess it's just a money saver for camera operators, producer, commentator, etc.?

I would have liked to watch them, but as long as they have good coverage semis + finals of lead + boulder + combined, then that's decent. So far this year's coverage has been ok, certainly better than some we've seen!

Fingers crossed Toby can seal it at this first opportunity. Given it's a whole year til Paris, qualifiers here might be some of the first athletes to get selected, for any sport?

Thanks - it’s a shame but it’s good to have the other rounds available to watch. I was hoping to have it on in the background this week at work.

How does the Olympic selection work?

Will it just be for the combined lead and Boulder or do the individual lead/boulder competitions count towards it too?

[sherlock]

Toby hanging in there, Max out of the picture.
The Japanese looking strong as usual....

[teestub]

How does the Olympic selection work?

Will it just be for the combined lead and Boulder or do the individual lead/boulder competitions count towards it too?

https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/features/paris_2024_olympic_games_sport_climbing_qualification_and_scoring_explainer-15300 good explainer on the other channel, top 3 from the combined qualify, then there's various other qualification events

[Duma]

Toby hanging in there, Max out of the picture.
The Japanese looking strong as usual....

Jack too!