Combined, Men

The first ever sport climbing event held at the Olympics started in the late afternoon of 3 August 2021. The field contained the reigning 2019 world champion in combined, Tomoa Narasaki, as well as the silver and bronze medallists Jakob Schubert, and Rishat Khaibullin. Schubert was also the 2018 world champion, with Sean McColl winning the World Championships in 2012, 2014, and 2016. All combined world champions in the history of this sport participated in Tokyo. They were Adam Ondra (2009-10, and 2015), Schubert (2011-13 and 2018), McColl (2014 and 2016), and Narasaki (2017 and 2019). Additionally, all combined World Cup winners from the last eleven editions were present in Tokyo, as were all European champions in the sport’s history: Schubert (2015), Jan Hojer (2017), and Aleksey Rubtsov (2020). As a result, the competition was wide open with no clear favorite.

The qualification started with the speed element, but without the reigning world record holder Veddriq Leonardo (INA), who managed to climb the standard wall in 5.20 seconds in May 2021 but did not qualify for the Olympics. The fastest after two rounds was Bassa Mawem with Narasaki second, and Bassa’s brother Mickaël Mawem third. The reigning speed world champion Ludovico Fossali only finished 13th.

The second element was bouldering, where Mickaël Mawem was the only climber to reach three of the four tops to place first. He was followed by Narasaki, the reigning 2019 World champion in bouldering, and Ondra, while Bassa Mawem finished 18th. After the first two events, Mickaël Mawem led the qualification with three points followed by Narasaki with five points and Bassa Mawem on 18.

The last qualification event, the lead, was won by Schuber, followed by Colin Duffy, Alberto Ginés, and the reigning 2019 world champion in lead, Ondra. The qualification was won by Mickaël Mawem, on his birthday, with 33 points (3x1x11), with Narasaki second with 56 points (2x2x14). The top eight qualified for the final, and with a good performance in lead (fifth place), Nathaniel Coleman jumped from 13th place after two events to eighth to secure the last spot in the final. Bassa Mawem qualified in seventh, but he ruptured his bicep tendon and was unable to participate in the final.

As the regulations did not provide for a substitute athlete, the final was held with seven athletes two days after qualification, and this had an influence on the opening speed part of the final. Unlike in the qualification, the speed element in the final operated on a knockout system. Bassa Mawem had won the speed in qualification, and Ondra was the lowest placed finallist in the speed qualification (18th) and consequently they were paired together. This caused controversy, however, because Ondra received a walk-over and would be placed at least fourth in what was his weakest discipline.

The winner of the speed was Ginés, who won his quarter-final against Duffy after his opponent produced a false start, and then beat Ondra in the semi-final. In the final, Narasaki slipped away as he tried to skip the third hold, a move he did not create but, due to him making it popular, it became known as the “Tomoa skip”. Because of his slip, however, there were calls jokingly, to rename it the “Tomoa slip”. Narasaki had the weakest performance of all finallists, with a time of 7.82, as he gave the win to Ginés, while Coleman and Schubert, as expected, placed sixth and seventh, respectively, but their preferred elements were still to come.

Coleman won the bouldering as the only climber to reach two tops. He was followed by Mickaël Mawem and Narasaki, while Ginés finished seventh as the only athlete not to manage to reach any top. This saw the field close together after two events with Coleman, Mickaël Mawem, and Narasaki all having six points followed by Ginés with seven points, Duffy (20), Ondra (24), and Schubert in last place with 35 points.

The starting order for the lead was not according to these standings but according to the results in the lead in the qualification, which meant that Narasaki had to start first and Schubert last, but this had no influence on the competition as the athletes were not allowed to watch their opponents or to receive any outside advice. The third starter in the lead final was Coleman, who went into the lead only to be overtaken by the next starter, Ondra. Next up was Ginés who placed between them in second place, and he in turn was overtaken by the penultimate starter Duffy. With these standings, Ginés was in the lead with 21 points followed by Coleman and Ondra with 24 each, and Narasaki and Duffy both with 30. This meant that the last starter Schubert could go for bronze if he could win the final element, while every other result would give him seventh place overall only. On the other hand, if Schubert finished second or third between Ginés and Ondra, gold would go to Ondra. At the end, Schubert was the only finallist to reach the top of the route and clearly finished first overall to give himself bronze with Ginés taking gold and the silver being won by Coleman, who only got into the final as the eighth and last qualifier.