Sport Climbing IFSC World Championships 2023

[heywoodu 16,004]

What was up with the order of the lead in the men's combined final? I swear the women started in opposite order of the boulder result, as one would expect: this way, the tension is built up. However, in the men's final, the order seemed entirely random, resulting in possible situations of having climbers start their lead in such a position they already can't mathematically win the gold anymore....that's just odd and makes for a rather mediocre viewing experience...

 

I feel like there was some reason why it was mixed up...?

[De_Gambassi 1,267]

10 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

What was up with the order of the lead in the men's combined final? I swear the women started in opposite order of the boulder result, as one would expect: this way, the tension is built up. However, in the men's final, the order seemed entirely random, resulting in possible situations of having climbers start their lead in such a position they already can't mathematically win the gold anymore....that's just odd and makes for a rather mediocre viewing experience...

 

I feel like there was some reason why it was mixed up...?

I don't remember it was the case for the women neither. I guess the logic behind it is that the boulder event by itself is not a great predicator of the future medallists, and that the results of the combined SF is a better one. 

[De_Gambassi 1,267]

Anyway, who cares. Hopefully, post-2024, we won't see it anymore

[heywoodu 16,004]

2 hours ago, De_Gambassi said:

Anyway, who cares. Hopefully, post-2024, we won't see it anymore

Yes, seeing three separate medal events would definitely be a lot better. If that actually happens, I am glad with the short-lived existence of the combined though, since it definitely would have helped putting climbing on the map (considering without the combined it wouldn't have been Olympic). And climbing is one of the super rare additions which I personally find to actually add something different in a good way, so if the combined helped with that, I can tolerate it for two Olympic cycles (as long as from 2028 on we have separate events)  

[phelps 8,285]

3 hours ago, heywoodu said:

What was up with the order of the lead in the men's combined final? I swear the women started in opposite order of the boulder result, as one would expect: this way, the tension is built up. However, in the men's final, the order seemed entirely random, resulting in possible situations of having climbers start their lead in such a position they already can't mathematically win the gold anymore....that's just odd and makes for a rather mediocre viewing experience...

 

I feel like there was some reason why it was mixed up...?

it was the reverse order of the result of the semifinal round (and it was the same also for the women), that's the rule

 

it was just a case* that in the women's event the climax was built slowly because the lead specialists also proved to be the best combined specialists

 

*actually, it happened because the values are way more established than in the men's division

 

in the men's event, instead, things were so balanced that in the final they went in a quite different way compared to the semis

[heywoodu 16,004]

2 hours ago, phelps said:

it was the reverse order of the result of the semifinal round (and it was the same also for the women), that's the rule

 

it was just a case* that in the women's event the climax was built slowly because the lead specialists also proved to be the best combined specialists

 

*actually, it happened because the values are way more established than in the men's division

 

in the men's event, instead, things were so balanced that in the final they went in a quite different way compared to the semis

Right, that makes sense, although definitely is a terrible way of holding the lead portion of the combined  

 

Theoretically it's possible that the athlete who opens the lead portion gets such a high score in both boulder and lead, that after his lead climb, the remaining 7 finalists already have literally no chance anymore to win, that's absurd  

[phelps 8,285]

31 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

Right, that makes sense, although definitely is a terrible way of holding the lead portion of the combined  

 

Theoretically it's possible that the athlete who opens the lead portion gets such a high score in both boulder and lead, that after his lead climb, the remaining 7 finalists already have literally no chance anymore to win, that's absurd  

which is what happened with Schubert in the men's event (and in part with Pilz among the women) 

 

he's good but not very consistent in boulder, so it might happen that he has an average overall result one day (in the semis) and an amazing result on another given day (the final) and this basically kills the flow of the competition 

[phelps 8,285]

personally, I think they might start the boulder part according to the boulder world ranking and then give the climbers a bit more rest between boulder and lead

 

finally, in the lead stint they could go in reverse order than the boulder part of the same round (quali/semi/final), but IFSC does have different ideas 

[AsensioWillemsen 174]

On 8/15/2023 at 8:36 PM, heywoodu said:

Right, that makes sense, although definitely is a terrible way of holding the lead portion of the combined  

 

Theoretically it's possible that the athlete who opens the lead portion gets such a high score in both boulder and lead, that after his lead climb, the remaining 7 finalists already have literally no chance anymore to win, that's absurd  

 

This kinda happened with Pilz, who could only be beaten by Garnbret afterwards if I recall correctly?