Kruder is in Tokyo as a reserve

Jernej Kruder reports on Insta that he is in Tokyo as a reserv athlete. “Chances to compete are equal to none, due to a million things that should turn in my good.”

Kruder tells 8a that he knows there are more reserves but not how the selection works. “My team is isolated in a special hotel. We also have a special process to train in some gyms alone.

There is no official IFSC info in regards how the reserves were selected but Kruder was the highest ranked in the Combined World Champion that did not make it. The second highest ranked male was Hanwool Kim from Korea.

Among the female, Speed specialist Di Niu from China was in Kruder’s position in 2019 followed by YueTong Zhang also from China, not counting Jenya Kazbekova who is recovering from an injury. Kazbekova has confirmed to 8a that she would have been a reserve.

In practice, the reserves will only participate if the Olympians fails a Covid test or get injured prior to the registration. If Niu get a spot and there will be five female Speed specialists, the chance/risk for any of the getting a medal is getting closer to 50 %, from a mathematical point of view.