Tokyo 2020 Olympics: Who has qualified for sport climbing? Spots decided before final begins, Ondra misses the cut
- Four Japanese climbers make it through the quarter-finals of each Combine World Championships, so all the athletes from other nations are guaranteed Olympic spots
The first batch of sport climbing berths for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo were decided before the final of the first qualifying tournament even began this week.
The IFSC World Championships Combined in Hachioji, Japan, doubled as the early qualifying tournament and, because of restrictions on the amount of climbers per nation who can compete in Tokyo, the outcomes were set two days before the final round of the tournament.
A total of 20 men and 20 women will compete at the Tokyo Games next year. The competition this week in Hachioji decides the first berths for each gender.
Because nations are only allowed two climbers each at the Olympics, and the Japanese are already guaranteed two spots as hosts, all seven spots were confirmed when four Japanese climbers made it through to the men’s and women’s final respectively. All the non-Japanese climbers down to ninth place secured their places.
The non-Japanese women going through are Shauna Coxsey (British), Janja Garnbret (Slovenia), Petra Klinglre (Switzerland), Aleksandra Miroslaw (Poland) and Brooke Raboutou (US), Jessica Pilz (Austria) and two highest ranked Japanese, Akiyo Noguchi, who claimed her spot on Tuesday’s final. Miho Nonaka was also selected to represent Japan.
The men through to the Olympics are Alexander Megos (Germany), Jakob Schubert (Austria), Rishat Khaibullin (Kazakhstan), Mickael Mawem (France), Ludovico Fossali (Italy), Sean McColl (Canada) and the top two Japanese climbers, Tomoa Narasaki and Kai Harada, who booked their spots during Wednesday’s finals.
One of the pre-tournament favourites, Czech Adam Ondra, finished 18th and missed the final. During the lead competition, he put his foot on a “bolt”, which is meant for clipping the rope to, not as a footrest or hold, and so he dropped down the ranking after thinking he had done enough to earn a place.
There are three disciplines of sport climbing in the Olympics – bouldering, lead and speed – and climbers have to compete in all three for a combined score.
