Pro Climbing League debut competition in London today

The Pro Climbing League makes its competition debut today in London with an exciting head-to-head format of sixteen climbers (eight men and eight women) competing on identical boulders.

The seeding round to decide which climbers will match up against each other took place at The Font Wandsworth 2.0, London, ahead of the inaugural Pro Climbing League this Saturday.

On the women’s side of the competition, double Olympic gold medallist Janja Garnbret will face off against fellow Olympian Lucia Dörffel in the qualifying round. French superstar and multiple World Cup winner Oriane Bertone will compete against Japan’s Anon Matsufuji. Olympians Camilla Moroni and Erin McNeice will go head to head, and young guns Jenny Buckley and Annie Sanders complete the match-ups.

On the men’s side, the current Olympic Champion Toby Roberts will go up against Mejdi Schalck. Tomoa Narasaki won the seeding round and will go up against Romanian young gun Darius Rapa. Former World Champion Mikael Mawem will square off against double Olympian Colin Duffy, and completing the matchups is Max ‘The Future’ Milne, who will compete against German powerhouse Yannick Flohe.

The new competition format on display at the Pro Climbing League features two climbers competing side by side on identical boulder problems, with whoever reaches the top first progressing to the next round. In the first round, the matched pairs will compete on three boulders, then in the semi-final and final rounds, they will compete on a single boulder per round.

The aim is to make the competition clearer to understand for all spectators and bring climbing to an ever-wider audience. The result is shorter rounds, direct match-ups, while also putting the skills, strength and tactics of the best climbers to the ultimate test.

The Pro Climbing League is the world’s first professional climbing league, bringing together some of the world’s best climbers in a fast, head-to-head competition format built for die-hard climbing fans and newcomers alike. Founded by climbers, it offers major prize money and a new global stage for the sport’s top talent. Some of the biggest names in the climbing world will attend, including Olympians, World Champions, and multiple World Cup winners.

The Seeding Round
The seeding round was a four-boulder round, where athletes had 4 minutes to complete the
boulder. The ranking was decided on the number of tops, then zones, then attempts to top and attempts to zone.

Seeding Match-ups
MALE
Tomoa Narasaki vs Darius Rapa
Mejdi Schalck vs Toby Roberts
Colin Duffy vs Mikael Mawem
Max Milne vs Yannick Flohe

FEMALE
Janja Garnbret vs Lucia Dörffel
Oriane Bertone vs Anon Matsufuji
Erin McNeice vs Camilla Moroni
Annie Sanders vs Jenny Buckley

LIVESTREAM
The livestream for the first Pro Climbing League event will be available on Red Bull TV from 19:30 GMT / 20:30 UTC.