Since 2025, World Climbing bouldering uses points: 25 for a top, 10 for reaching only the Zone, minus 0.1 for every failed attempt, with a maximum of 100 across four boulders. A top is always worth more than two Zones, so athletes keep going for tops rather than playing safe. The old system ranked by number of tops, then Zones, then attempts.
In lead, each route gets one attempt of up to six minutes. Athletes who don't top are ranked by the last hold they controlled; if they controlled it and moved for the next hold, the result gets a '+' and ranks above someone who stopped at the same hold. Qualification takes the geometric mean of the ranks on two routes; in the semi-final and final, ties go to countback first, and remaining podium ties are decided on climbing time.
Speed uses the same 15-metre standard route everywhere, which is why it is the only climbing discipline with world records. As of 2026-10, the men's record is Zhao Yicheng's 4.54 seconds and the women's is Emma Hunt's 5.99 seconds. A reaction time under 0.100 seconds is a false start, and in a Speed 2 knockout race a false start means you lose. In 2026 the series used a four-lane format for the first time, with the top two in each race advancing.
Olympic climbing has changed every Games, always towards more separation. Tokyo combined all three disciplines and multiplied the ranks, so even the speed world-record holder could miss the podium. Paris made speed its own event and combined boulder and lead at 100 points each. Los Angeles gives each discipline its own medals: six golds, 76 athletes. About half the places are awarded at qualification events in 2027, the rest at the 2028 Olympic Q-Series. Para climbing is also confirmed for the 2028 Paralympics, with 8 medal events and 80 athletes.
Taiwan's National Games, National Sports Festival and National High School Games currently have no climbing. Climbers can start with gym comps, then enter the national championships run by the Chinese Taipei Alpine Association (CTAA) and hosted by gyms (open-division results count towards national-team points). Students have a separate national youth championship, where high-school and junior-high results can be used for sports-based school admission. Three Taiwanese athletes earned places at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games; the Ministry of Sports decided not to send them, citing its participation standards and a cost-benefit review, while the athletes say they only learned of it after the entry deadline. This post presents both accounts.
Japan's strength shows in the data: 14 men's and 8 women's World Cup overall titles, and in one 2023 lead final seven of the eight finalists were Japanese. At home the Japan Cup doubles as national-team selection, and the federation runs a youth development project. But 'why' is still only explained by commentators, such as former IFSC vice-president Toru Kobinata, who says Japanese gyms pack their walls with holds and so offer more movement variety. No academic study has examined the question directly.
Competitions outside World Climbing are mostly invitational, set their own rules and are built to be watched. Rock Master has run since 1986 and held its 40th edition in 2026, with a Lead Duel and a knockout bouldering event. Psicobloc deep water solo still runs in A Coruña, Spain, in 2026. The Pro Climbing League launched in London in 2026 with a £10,000 winner's prize, more than the €6,000 a World Climbing Series event pays its winner, and expands to three events with a £50,000 prize pot each in 2027.
As of October 2026 there are five routes with a proposed grade of 9c. In October 2026 Jakob Schubert repeated DNA, making it the first confirmed 9c. Grades are proposed by the first ascensionist and then confirmed or downgraded by those who repeat the line. It is hard to live on competition money alone: a 2026 World Climbing Series event pays its winner €6,000, most sponsorship is paid in gear, and films and livestreams are another route.