Olympics sport climbing explained: What is bouldering, speed and lead?

Wondering how the three formats work and how points are scored? RadioTimes.com brings you everything you need to know.

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What is Olympic speed climbing?

In Olympic speed climbing, climbers scale a 15 m wall with a five-degrees incline as fast as possible.

In seeding rounds, climbers are ranked by fastest time.

In elimination rounds, athletes go head-to-head in a race to the top.

What’s the difference between boulder and lead climbing?

In bouldering, athletes climb up a 4.5 m wall (nearly 15 feet) without ropes in a limited period of time in the fewest attempts possible.

Unlike in lead, climbers don’t see the boulder routes ahead of their attempts.

Climbers are awarded 25 points for getting to the top of each boulder.

If unable to top the boulder, climbers can earn points for reaching two zone holds along the way.

Meanwhile in lead, climbers ascend as high as they can on a 15 m wall (nearly 50 feet) in six minutes in a single attempt.

They are given six minutes to look at their climb before the round begins.

If the athletes 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 reached, with the highest 10 holds worth four points each, the next 10 holds down worth three points, and so on.

Scores from the bouldering and lead disciplines are then combined.

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