In response to Duma’s point, take a situation where we have 3 boulder problems and the setting is a bit off. One is fairly easy and the other two are a bit too hard. One competitor misses the easy problem due to misreading a move or due to height issues or a multitude of other possible reasons and everyone else gets the problem. Neither of the other problems get topped, but our fictional competitor is the only one to get zones on either. That competitor can’t come higher than last, regardless of the fact they did better than everyone else on 2 out of 3 problems. Effectively, the first problem has acted as a knockout because of the nature of problems 2 and 3.
On a similar note, there’s been a bit of a trend recently to have the first move of the lead route being a parkour style move, standing up on a slopey volume into a press type of thing - men’s lead qualifier in the combined was, I think. Same situation, you miss the first move due to a mistake and you’re last. I do realise that this doesn’t illustrate my point as well as the boulder example, but I guess I’m trying to highlight that these early moves can be a bit of a lottery.
Let’s be clear here, I understand the points you’re all making and I recognise that the speed format isn’t perfect. All I’m trying to argue is that there are scenarios in all 3 events that can have similar impacts that would seem “unfair” or give results that seem wrong.
If you remove the head to head from the speed round, you’re removing the one thing that makes it watchable. I can see the value in a setup like the team pursuit in cycling, where you qualify for your knockout position - 2 runs, 5th to 8th ranked on best time, 1st to 4th get seeded and have semis and finals. That would mitigate a lot of the problems, but you’d still be left with the above issues in boulder and lead.
The biggest issue that I can see with the existing structure is not Bob from r-man’s example fluking his way through the rounds, because his opponents will be good enough to back off a bit, be solid and still win. The biggest issue in my mind is if someone like Tomoa gets drawn against a speed specialist in round 1 and gets beaten.