20 August 2018
Increase action, interest, drama and fairness in Boulder finals
The male final in Munich started with a great flash by Gregor Vezonik. Then it took more than 28 minutes until any athlete could do one move from the starting holds!
Imagine this would have been the in Tokyo 2020. No action or excitement for 28 minutes. Millions of non-climbing viewers around the globe would have just left their screens and shaking their heads. The remaining might have thought it was pretty strange that Vezonik had secured the victory even if his five opponents had not even tried the last boulder.
One simple solution for more action can be to let the finalists start in two groups on the first two boulders. This will also create more fair conditions and mental pressure. Then we can let them go for the third boulder. Before the last boulder, there can be a 10 min break and then we let the Top-6 start in reversed order, which will guarantee action until the last climbers is out.
Main advantages of two starting groups in the final
1. More action and less dead moments.
2. More athletes will increase the interest around the globe.
3. More drama in the end of the competition.
4. Fairness due to more similar conditions (friction) and pressure.
Another advantage for such format change is that more athletes will get more training and enjoyment challenging the four final boulders. This would create great impact also on the national, local and youth level. One option to increase all these five factors and add a sixth one could be to let nine athletes rotate on the first three boulders. If so, the total time of a final would be reduced from around 96 minutes to 70 minutes.
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