{"id":39926,"date":"2018-10-31T11:51:13","date_gmt":"2018-10-31T18:51:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=39926"},"modified":"2025-11-20T17:08:28","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T01:08:28","slug":"whats-up-with-speed-climbing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/climb\/whats-up-with-speed-climbing","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s Up With Speed Climbing?"},"content":{"rendered":"

When director Zachary Barr talks about people on social media criticizing or questioning Reel Rock<\/a>\u2019s inclusion of a new film about speed climbing in its latest film series<\/a>, he just chuckles. Because he, too, was questioning not so long ago.<\/p>\n

When the announcement came that climbing would be included in the 2020 games in Tokyo, \u201cthere was this brief moment of celebration in the climbing community, followed by collective befuddlement,\u201d he says. That\u2019s because the climbing competitors will be judged on three different categories: lead sport climbing, bouldering\u2014and speed climbing, where two opponents climb identical side-by-side routes and try to beat each other to the top. Obviously, most elite climbers are super specialized, so asking athletes to shine in both lead climbing and<\/i> bouldering seems like a huge ask as it is. But adding speed climbing into the mix seemed to be throwing in an even bigger wrench\u2014because it\u2019s not something most American climbers even think about, let alone excel at, Barr says. Blazing up a 15-meter artificial climbing wall on top rope in less than six seconds? It seems almost diametrically opposed to what most Western climbers think of as climbing.<\/p>\n