Olympics climbing schedule: How bouldering is scored and how to watch the fastest event in Paris

Sport climbing kicked off at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Monday with cheering fans marking the sport’s second time at the Games after a toned-down debut during the previous Games.

There are three disciplines in sport climbing: bouldering, lead and speed climbing. Unlike in Tokyo 2020 when the International Federation of Sport Climbing was only given one medal event for all three types of climbing combined, speed climbing is a standalone medal event.

“With Speed being separated from the other two, the specialists in that discipline are sure to flourish,” IFSC President Marco Scolaris explained at the time.

Here’s what you need to know about all the sports climbing events:

When he was 18, he helped children with disabilities practice climbing, and after college, he joined the Harvard Biodesign Lab, where he helped he designed devices for stroke patients.

Speed climbing: How tall is the wall? Is it always the same route? What’s the world record?

Sorry, 100m sprinters, speed climbing is THE fastest event at the Olympics. By fastest, we mean shortest because the men’s world record by Team USA’s Sam Watson stands at 4.79 seconds.

It took the 18-year-old less than five seconds to climb the 49-foot-tall route at the IFSC World Cup in April. Athletes practice over and over again on the same route to improve their speed.

Watch the men’s speed qualification round starting at 7 a.m. ET Tuesday, Aug. 6, on USA Network or Peacock.

Poland’s Aleksandra Miroslaw broke her own world record for women at the 2024 Paris Olympics qualification round with a 6.06-second climb. Team USA’s Emma Hunt was just 30 seconds behind (6.36 seconds) in second place. The two of them and six other women advanced to the final that you don’t want to miss on Wednesday, Aug. 7, at 6:35 a.m. ET. (Stream live on Peacock or watch on NBC New York at 9:00 a.m. ET.)

U.S. sport climber Brooke Raboutou learned how to climb with her parents, who also competed in the sport.

Olympics bouldering rules and scoring

The men’s bouldering semifinal took place at 4 a.m. ET on Monday, Aug. 5, with Americans Colin Duffy placing 11th and Jesse Grupper of New York coming in 18th.

Twenty athletes were tasked with solving the same four 15-foot-tall bouldering “problems” within a time limit. Going one at a time, climbers can’t see the boulder routes ahead of their attempts. They are awarded 25 points for getting to the top of each boulder.

Each of the four problems is marked with two “zone holds,” or low and high checkpoints, that the athletes must show control over to get the 5 or 10 zone points — that is if they’re unable to “top” the boulder. There’s also a -0.1 point deduction for each failed attempt to reach a zone or the top. The perfect score totals 100.

Japan’s Sorato Anraku led the way in the combined event with 69 points. He topped the first boulder in two attempts and flashed (topping a problem on the first attempt) the second boulder.

Tomoa Narasaki of Japan stands in second with 54.4 points and Great Britain’s Toby Roberts is in third with 54.1 points.

The women’s bouldering semifinal will take place at 4 a.m. ET Tuesday, Aug. 6. You can watch live on Peacock or stream on NBCOlympics.com. It will also air on E! at 9:30 a.m. ET. Team USA’s Brooke Raboutou and Natalia Grossman, a 10-time World Cup gold medalist in bouldering, will get to try to redeem their performances in Tokyo.

Lead climbing: How it works, how to watch

Team USA has a chance to make up the points from men’s bouldering in the men’s lead climbing event on Wednesday, Aug. 7, at 4 a.m. ET. You can stream live on Peacock or NBCOlympics.com.

In this event, climbers have six minutes to look at their climb before the round begins. They are then given another six minutes to climb as high as they can, while clipping their lead rope to the checkpoints. If they reach the top in the given amount of time, they’ll be awarded 100 points.

If they don’t reach the top, athletes are scored based on the holds they’ve climbed. The highest 10 holds from the top are worth four points each, the next 10 holds down are worth three points, and so on.

Scores from the bouldering and lead portions are then combined and the top eight climbers will advance to the final round.

Men’s sports climbing combined final is set for Friday, Aug. 9, at 4:15 a.m. and women’s sports climbing combined final is set for Saturday, Aug. 10, at 4:15 a.m. ET.

Sam Watson was a kid from Texas dreaming of going to the Olympics; this year, he’s heading to Paris to represent Team USA in Olympic climbing.