Olympic qualification + WC starts in April in Japan

The first Boulder World Cup in 2023 will take place in Hachioji in Japan, April 21st-24th. At this event, competitors will start receiving points in order to qualify for the Olympic qualification series that will take place in the Spring of 2024. The exact details are not yet defined but it seems there will be 48 males and females that will do four Boulder & Lead events, where the Top-10 (but possibly 12), will make it to Paris 2024.

The first 3 + 3 Olympic spots will be given to the medalists at the World Championship in Bern in August 2023. Then 5 + 5 invitations will be given to the Continential winners in the Autumn. There is also a country max two quota, plus France is guaranteed 1 + 1 spot. Furthermore, the last 1 + 1 spots can be attained via a "Universality" quota. More info.

In practice, the setup will likely encourage athletes from the USA and Japan to focus on the World and the Continental Championships in 2023, due to the quotas. It's also likely that some of the top competitors, such as Ondra, Schubert, and Garnbret, will skip some World Cups in order to focus on the Championships, as they are shoeins for the 2024 qualification series.

Between June 2nd and July 15th, there are three Boulder and four Lead WCs coming up in Europe. Then, two weeks later the Bern Championship starts. It will be interesting to see how the athletes, especially the non-Europeans, will select which comps they will focus on. In any case, it might be that many of the best will skip the Boulder WC in Salt Lake City in May, making it the best event for the others trying to get some "easier" points. The same can be said for the last Lead event in China in September.