Speed climbing is a climbing discipline in which speed is the ultimate goal. Speed climbing is done on rocks, walls and poles and is only recommended for highly skilled and experienced climbers.
Competition climbing made its Olympic debut at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. Two events were held, one each for men and women. The format controversially consisted of one combined event with three disciplines: lead climbing, speed climbing and bouldering. The medals were determined based on best performance across all three disciplines. This format was previously tested at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics. The Olympic code for sports climbing is CLB.
Reza Alipour Shenazandifard is an Iranian competition speed climber from Qazvin. He is nicknamed the "Persian Cheetah".
Competitions in the sport of climbing, governed by the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC), have been held at two editions of the Summer Olympic Games. First selected as one of the discretionary sports at the 2020 and 2024 games, sport climbing will be inducted as one of the mandatory sports at the 2028 games. Athletes compete in the disciplines of bouldering, lead climbing, and speed climbing. All three were contested as a single event in the 2020 programme, while speed climbing was spun off into its own event in the 2024 programme. Slovenia have won the most gold medals (2), while Austria, Japan, and the United States have won the most medals overall.
Aleksandra (Ola) Mirosław is a Polish soldier and competition speed climber. She is a two-time women's speed world champion as well as the current women's competition speed climbing world record holder. Mirosław won the gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in the speed climbing event, becoming the first ever Olympic champion in this event.
The men's combined event at the 2020 Summer Olympics was a climbing competition combining three disciplines. It was held from August 3 to August 5, 2021 at the Aomi Urban Sports Park in Tokyo. A total of 20 athletes from 15 nations competed. Sport climbing was one of four new sports added to the Olympic program for 2020.
The women's combined event at the 2020 Summer Olympics was a climbing competition combining three disciplines. It took place between 4 and 6 August 2021 at the Aomi Urban Sports Park in Tokyo. 20 athletes from 15 nations competed. Sport climbing was one of four new sports added to the Olympic program for 2020.
Bassa Mawem is a French professional speed climber who specialises in competition climbing. He qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics. He also qualified for the 2024 Olympics.
Great Britain, the team of the British Olympic Association (BOA) which represents the United Kingdom, competed at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris from 26 July to 11 August 2024. The delegation of 327 athletes included 172 women and 155 men and featured 73 medallists from previous Games. The team was made up of athletes from the whole United Kingdom including Northern Ireland. Additionally some British overseas territories compete separately from Britain in Olympic competition.
Poland competed at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris from 26 July to 11 August 2024, celebrating the centenary of the team's debut in the same venue. Polish athletes have appeared in every edition of the Summer Olympic Games from 1924 onwards, except for the 1984 Summer Olympics because of the Soviet boycott.
Competition climbing at the 2024 Summer Olympics took place from 5 to 10 August at Le Bourget Sport Climbing Venue in Saint-Denis, returning to the program for the second time since the sport's official debut three years earlier in Tokyo 2020. The total number of medal events was doubled from two in the previous edition because the boulder-and-lead tandem had been separated from the speed format. Furthermore, the number of climbers increased from 40 to 68.
The 2023 IFSC Climbing World Championships, the 18th edition, was held in Bern, Switzerland from 1 to 12 August 2023. The competition climbing championships consisted of lead, speed, bouldering, and boulder & lead combined events, along with the paraclimbing event. The speed and combined events served as the first qualifying event for the 2024 Summer Olympics. PostFinance Arena served as the event venue.
In qualifying for the 2024 Summer Olympics, a total of 68 climbers, with an equal distribution between men and women, will compete across two separate competition climbing disciplines at these Games for the first time, namely: a unique competition bouldering-and-competition lead climbing combined event, and a separate competition speed climbing event.
The men's competition speed climbing event at the 2024 Summer Olympics took place from 6 to 8 August 2024 at Le Bourget Sport Climbing Venue in Paris.
The women's competition climbing combined event at the 2024 Summer Olympics took place from 6 to 10 August 2024 at Le Bourget Sport Climbing Venue in Paris. It marked the second Olympics to feature this event as part of the programme. Competition climbing only received one women's event that combined bouldering, lead, and speed climbing at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. The 2024 Olympic event retained the bouldering and lead climbing disciplines, while speed climbing was spun off into its own event.
Indonesia competed at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris from 26 July to 11 August 2024. It was the nation's seventeenth appearance at the Summer Olympics.
Aniya Holder is a South African rock climber who specializes in competition climbing, particularly speed climbing. As of 2024, Holder is the reigning female African Continental Champion in women's speed climbing, and she is representing South Africa in that discipline at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Wu Peng is a Chinese competition speed climber. He represented China at the 2024 Summer Olympics and won a silver medal in the men's speed event.
Zhou Yafei is a Chinese competition speed climber. She represented China at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Amir Maimuratov is a Kazakhstani competition speed climber. He represented Kazakhstan at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
