Regulate holds to create fair competitions

There were several complaints from coaches and athletes in Meiringen in regards deteriorating friction for the ones starting last. The reason for this was that the Polyurethane (PU) plastic holds lost their surface friction and did get warmed up faster, in comparison to thicker Polyethlene (PE) holds. During the last years, with bigger holds and volumes, the thinner PU holds are almost always used. What the coaches, athletes, route setters and even officials have said is that in the future IFSC have to regulate the holds so fair conditions can be obtained throughout a competition. One recipe for this is to actually start making the bigger holds and volumes in PE which also will make them heavier. Tomasz Oleksy, one of the most frequently used IFSC route setter the last years, who also set in Moscow and who will set the next one in China, shares his view. - The big advantage with PU volumes is that we can add screw on holds. As a route setter, you always want as many different types of holds as possible but there are often some political and money issues involved. During the qualification I think PE holds should be used in order to create fair competitions.