Janja Garnbret and Jakob Schubert win Boulder & Lead Combined at Munich 2022

When sport climbing made its Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020 it did so with the formula that included all three disciplines, Lead, Boulder and Speed. While the decision to do so was highly controversial, it was a temporary compromise that enabled sport climbing to be included for the first time even in the Games, providing the springboard to Paris 2024 where, it was hoped, more medals would be available and hence the possibility to split the disciplines.

The IFSC gamble payed off and much to everyone's delight the Olympic Games Paris 2024 will see medals awarded to Speed athletes separately, as well as to climbers in the new Boulder & Lead discipline. This B&L formula made its official competitive debut at the European Championships Munich 2022 and featured the top eight climbers from this weekend’s individual Boulder and Lead competitions.

The women kicked off the action on Wednesday with Boulder in the early afternoon and then, after just one hour’s rest, with Lead. With the temperature hitting 32 degrees on the Königsplatz and the crowd being hosed down from the front of the stage, Garnbret as usual dictated the pace. She climbed flawlessly and flashed the first three problems before falling at the start of #4. She crashed down hard on her lower back and was evidently in pain, but brushed this aside and topped the problem on her next attempt. Hannah Meul and Mia Krampl checked in with an equal score, just ahead of Jessica Pilz who worked hard on the coordination boulder to keep in the running. In the Lead final, Krampl and Pilz both topped out to gain full points while Meul fell significantly lower to rank provisional third. As Garnbret started her climb, it was clear that it was all hers to win or lose. But win she did, in style, topping out under immense pressure once again to win her third consecutive medal in Munich this week.

The men’s boulder on Thursday proved exciting and with Adam Ondra, Sam Avezou, Medi Schalck and Jakob Schubert all separated by the tiniest of margins, paving the way for a thrilling Lead finale. Filip Schenk certainly didn’t climb as well as he usually does in Boulder but he more than made up for it in the Final, reaching hold 48+ which no other athlete could better except Jakob Schubert. The Austrian powered one hold higher and his unsuccessful dyno to the last hold put him in provisional gold position, while Alberto Ginés López sat in provisional second having touched Schenk's highpoint. Adam Ondra is used to being the last out, but this time the pressure was perhaps a bit too much even for him; he climbed less securely than usual, even dropped back once to rest, then fell off the crimp on the headwall just like Schenk. Which meant that Jakob Schubert took the first ever Boulder & Lead title, ahead of Ondra and Ginés López.

The scoring of the Combined event is radically different from the usual World Cup system and while some minor adjustments may well be made in the near future, it certainly provided an interesting foretaste of what lies just around the corner for all these athletes: the Olympic Games at Paris 2024.