13 January 2019

"IFSC" onsight and flash use are contradictory

IFSC Lead semis and finals are run in onsight format. This means that the athletes are allowed to look at the routes for five minutes, even with binoculars. Further more they are allowed to cooperate and discuss and sometimes they draw sketches in the iso. In practice, also including the often straight forward route setting, most athletes share the same sequences often making the semis quite boring, like they were flashing or even redpointing big parts of the route. In IFSC bouldering semis, the athletes get much less possibility to check the boulders and they are now allowed to cooperate. The key is often finding the right beta but nevertheless this format is considered flash. In Lead comps, the definition of flash is totally the opposite. The athletes are provided with a beta video and they can sit and look at each other climbing. Further more, they can talk even to the guys having tried the climb. It must be quite confusing especially for the non-climbers why IFSC commentators say bouldering semis are run in flash format as it clearly is a more pure onsight, in comparsion to the Lead onsight format. It should be mentioned that in the IFSC rules, they never define whether bouldering is run in flash or onsight format. In other words, it is the commentators and climbers who confusingly call it flash.
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