Paris 2024 Olympics - How The Weather May Affect The Climbs

We all know how the current weather is all over the place - grit in June/July?

For a sport like Table Tennis, not much of a concern if it’s 95% humidity and 30°C but for a sport where you’re holding your bodyweight and throwing it around on friction dependent holds, definitely a concern.

Last year Paris saw 13 days over 30°C scattered across July and August, the average temperature that time of year is around 25°C.

Now most of the days throughout the month hovered right around that 25°C mark but then it would suddenly shoot up and it’s not always accurately forecasted. So if the setters prepare a bunch of climbs expecting it to be around 25°C and all of a sudden it’s 35°C then those holds all of a sudden are unholdable.

Especially in today’s style of big open hand macros.

We witnessed this at the Budapest OQS. On 20-23rd of June, the duration of the Qualifying Series it was anywhere between 25 and 34°C and with minimal cloud cover and wind.

The week prior to the event? The temperature was between 18 and 22°C. A massive difference, we don’t know when exactly the setters set and test the boulders but we figure it’s the week before, if it isn’t and it’s earlier then they would’ve still seen much lower temperatures than the days of the OQS.

Due to these temperatures, we saw very few tops of the boulders, especially the Men’s which were in the hottest time of day on the 23rd.

Left: This Squadra Sick Macro was probably much more holdable when the temperature was 7°C cooler. Even then they’re desperate in the best of conditions, let alone 29°C.

Nobody managed to top Men’s 1, with only two athletes even holding that 10 point scoring Zone hold. With some athletes failing to consistently start the boulder.

Of course we’re sure that the setters will tweak the boulders slightly on the day if needs be, but they can only tweak it so much when they have specific holdsets and sequences planned for each boulder.

Last year, at the British Bouldering Championships 2023, we saw the inverse happen at the Qualifiers as the setters set and tested the boulders in warm and humid conditions and on the day of the competition it was overcast, windy and quite cold.

So all of a sudden those desperate macros were much more holdable and the predicted separation due to slipping basically didn’t happen as most of the top men were bunched together at the top.

Right: Tommy Matthews flashing Men’s 3, as did 8 others. I’m sure those Contact Pods were much more desperate during testing.

The setters for Paris 2024 will undoubtedly take conditions into account, as it is an integral part of the sport but sometimes these heatwaves can hit with more severity than forecast or earlier than forecast. There are specific IFSC guidelines that need to be followed for the sets and any adjustments can only be made to the next round and not the same round, e.g. adjustments can be made to semis during qualifiers etc. So a quick tweak to M3 when M1 doesn’t get tops is obviously out of the question and just doesn’t work logistically.

Men’s and Women’s Boulder Semifinals are on the 5th and 6th of August respectively, and the Finals are 9th and 10th of August, that gives time to make adjustments to the boulders, if there is a heatwave forecast. It’s a fine line between something that separates the competitors due to body position and grip, and something that’s suddenly a jug that nobody fails to hold.

The new format of 2 Zones may possibly make it a little bit easier to separate the field as there will be more opportunity for point scoring for the athletes. The setters could also lean more into power blocs which would be slightly less friction dependent. Mentioned in the same IFSC guidelines:

“Characteristics of the qualification boulders:

Recommended distribution of the styles: 1 physical/power, 1 physical “electric” or physical/coordination, 1 boulder – coordination, 1 boulder - technical or balance (usually “the slab boulder”).”

So they do have wiggle room for setting blocs that can accommodate future adjustments for temperature spikes. And since the heatwave through France and a lot of Europe was severe last year, maybe that is something that needs to be seriously considered. Although, of course, if the heatwave is extreme enough that there is a severe risk to the health of athletes and spectators, then the games may well be postponed.

Some of the comments on the Budapest OQS Men’s Final on YouTube were rather scathing, which could be extrapolated to what viewers opinions may end up being during Paris 2024 if there is a repeat of few tops. One angry viewer wrote:

“As a spectator I would be absolutely bored watching one of the best climbers in the world failing to reach even the lowest score on those boulders....compared to the women´s finals, this is garbage… so either the athletes are bad or routes are near impossible, too technical, full of incredibly hard moves and power spots and just plain bull**** , creating a low interest in this otherwise fun sport”

This comment is rather mean, confusing to read and understand but sadly on track with the types of comments left on YouTube. However, based on the content and the fact that this person sought out the video to watch in the first place we can infer that they do have some interest and understanding of climbing, and even then they are utterly unrelenting towards the routesetters.

Now if a viewer has tuned into the Olympic Sport Climbing Boulder Finals and it’s their first exposure to the sport, a repeat of this could lead to a flop of psyche for the sport. Think of the recent scathing review of the mountain bike course by Tom Pidcock. If they view a similar kind of performance to Budapest, I’m not sure they’ll be particularly entertained or impressed by the climbing ability on display. They won’t even start to consider the nuances of conditions, the friction of polyurethane on a day with a steep temperature gradient, and so many more things that the routesetters have put so much effort into, ultimately completely behind the scenes. They’ll just switch over to the Table Tennis or Taekwondo.

Regardless of what happens, I’m sure the setters will build incredible routes for us all to watch the athletes battle it out on.

If a heatwave does roll around then one thing is for sure, our new COLD will definitely come in clutch, keeping your skin cool and sweat free straight out of your chalk bag. Who knows, we might even see it on the Olympic mats?