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Sports climbing will debut as an official sport at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but there is controversy about the competition format.
At an indoor climbing gym in western Sydney, some of Australia’s most promising climbers begin the quest for Olympic qualification.
Fourteen-year-old Angie Scarth-Johnson has been climbing since she was seven.
At nine, she became the youngest person in the world to complete a complex grade 31 climb.
Angie will be 16 years old when the Olympics get underway in July, 2020 — just old enough to qualify.
She’s preparing for a new and untested event when climbing makes its Olympics debut.
Climbers will be required to master three different techniques: lead climbing, speed climbing and bouldering.
It’s like a triathlon, but for climbing.
Lead climbing rewards endurance and strategy.
Secured by a rope, climbers reach as high as they can on a wall within six minutes.
Speed climbing is a spectacle — a vertical sprint.
Two climbers race to scale a 15-metre-high wall in as little as five to six seconds.
Competition speed climbing is carried out on a standard wall worldwide.
The men’s world record is just 5.48 seconds; the women’s record is 7.32 seconds.
Bouldering is performed closer to the ground, with mats in place of ropes.
Problem solving and power are key — climbers are able to jump between climbing holds in explosive gymnastic moves known as “dynos”.
At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, athletes will be ranked by their results in all three disciplines.
The combined format has left some climbers displeased.
Campbell Harrison, 21, feels well prepared for the Olympic qualifiers.
He’s competed against the best in the world at international competitions since he was 17.
The 2024 Paris Games organisers now propose to split the combined format into separate events.
The combined Olympic format is driving outdoor climbers like Angie to learn two radically different climbing styles in an indoor setting.
That keeps her away from her favourite outdoor routes near her home in the Blue Mountains, just outside Sydney.
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