Sport climbing at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification

There are 40 quota spots available for sport climbing at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Each National Olympic Committee (NOC) can obtain a maximum of 2 spots in each event (total 4 maximum across the 2 events). Each event will have 20 competitors qualify: 18 from qualifying, 1 from the host (Japan), and 1 from Tripartite Commission invitations.[1]

Timeline

Event	Date[2]	Venue
IFSC Combined World Championships	August 11–22, 2019	Hachioji
World Olympic Qualifying Event	November 28 – December 1, 2019	Toulouse
Pan American Olympic Qualifying Event	February 24 – March 1, 2020	Los Angeles[3]
European Championships	October 1–8, 2020[4]	Moscow[5]
Asian Championship	TBA	Morioka[5]
African Championships		Cape Town[5]
Oceania Championships		Sydney[5]

The African, Oceania and Asian Championships were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[6][7]

Qualification

Japan, as the host, was guaranteed at least one place. Initially the rules were interpreted such that this spot would only be used if no Japanese athlete would manage to qualify through the other qualifying events.

The first qualifying opportunity was the Combined World Championship, where the top seven finishers earned one quota place.[5] Since four Japanese climbers qualified during this event (two male, two female), the unused Host Country Place went to the next highest placed climber in the Combined World Championships who is not yet qualified and doesn't come from a country with 2 climbers already qualified.[8]

The second opportunity, the Olympic Qualifying Event featured the next 22 ranked athletes in the World Cup standings who had not yet received an Olympic invitation; of these, the top six qualified for the Olympic Games.[9]

Between February and May 2020 each continent was to host a Continental Combined Championship, with the best finisher who is not already qualified earning a quota spot. Only the Pan-American Championships was held before the coronavirus pandemic halted competition. In February 2020, to address potential cancellations of continental championships due to the pandemic, IFSC updated the qualification guidelines to read, "Unused quota from any Continental Championship, will be reallocated to the next highest placed athlete from the relevant continent, not yet qualified, in the Combined World Championships 2019, respecting the maximum quota per gender per NOC."[10]

This makes Jongwon Chon and Chaehyun Seo, both of South Korea, the provisional qualifiers in case the IFSC Climbing Asian Championships is cancelled.[11]

The Tripartite Commission invitation was to be allocated after the continental championships, but the deadline was missed, and places were awarded to the next highest qualified eligible finishers at 2019 World Championships.[4][12]

Selection

After athletes qualify, they are allocated a quota space by the international federation, which must be confirmed by their National Olympic Committee (NOC).[12] In some cases the NOC might choose not to use a quota place in order to decide who fills the quota at a later date. During the Combined World Championships Japanese climbers Akiyo Noguchi, Miho Nonaka, Tomoa Narasaki and Kai Harada earned a quota place, but only Noguchi and Narasaki were subsequently confirmed to qualify for the Olympics.[5][13] Later the IFSC and the Japan Mountaineering and Sport Climbing Association (JMSCA) confirmed both Nonaka and Harada as Olympic-qualified athletes.[9][14]

In November 2019 the Japanese Mountaineering and Sport Climbing Association (JMSCA) opened a lawsuit against the IFSC related to uncertainties in the qualification system and how the 'host place' qualification could be used. Associated rule changes also affected selection pathways for athletes from other countries.[8]

Qualified countries

NOC	Men	Women	Total
Austria	1	1	2
Canada	1	1	2
China	1	1	2
Czech Republic	1		1
France	2	2	4
Germany	2		2
Great Britain		1	1
Italy	2	1	3
Japan	2	2	4
Kazakhstan	1		1
Poland		1	1
Russia†		1	1
Slovenia		2	2
Spain	1		1
Switzerland		1	1
United States	2	2	4
Total: 16 NOCs	16	16	32

† Pending conclusion of case at Court of Arbitration for Sport for Russian entry to the 2020 Games. Athlete may compete as Authorised neutral .

Qualified athletes

Standard	Places	Men's	Women's
Host place	1	Kai Harada (JPN)[14]	Miho Nonaka (JPN)[14]
World Championship	7	Tomoa Narasaki (JPN)  Jakob Schubert (AUT)  Rishat Khaibullin (KAZ)  Mickaël Mawem (FRA)  Alex Megos (GER)  Ludovico Fossali (ITA)  Sean McColl (CAN)	Janja Garnbret (SLO)  Akiyo Noguchi (JPN)[15]  Shauna Coxsey (GBR)  Aleksandra Mirosław (POL)  Petra Klingler (SUI)  Brooke Raboutou (USA)  Jessica Pilz (AUT)
Olympic Qualifying Event	6	Adam Ondra (CZE)  Bassa Mawem (FRA)  Jan Hojer (GER)  Pan Yufei (CHN)  Alberto Ginés López (ESP)  Nathaniel Coleman (USA)	Julia Chanourdie (FRA)  Mia Krampl (SLO)  Iuliia Kaplina (RUS)  Kyra Condie (USA)  Laura Rogora (ITA)  Song Yiling (CHN)
Pan American Championships	1	Colin Duffy (USA)	Alannah Yip (CAN)
African Championships	1
European Championships	1
Oceania Championships	1
Asian Championships	1
Tripartite Commission	0	—	—
Reallocation	1	Michael Piccolruaz (ITA)[4]	Anouck Jaubert (FRA)[4]
Total	20

References

1. Qualification System – Games of the XXXII Olympiad – Sport climbing; International Federation of Sport Climbing, 15 March 2018
2. "IFSC Tokyo 2020". Retrieved 8 January 2020.
3. "2019-2020 Pan-American Events Announced". www.ifsc-climbing.org. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
4. "France's Jaubert and Italy's Piccolruaz earn ticket for Tokyo 2020". www.ifsc-climbing.org. IFSC. 30 April 2020. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
5. "Where do we stand on Tokyo 2020 Olympic qualification in sport climbing?". Olympic Channel.
6. "European Climbing Championships and Boulder World Cup postponed". Planetmountain. 15 March 2020.
7. "Update on IFSC Competitions". IFSC. 13 March 2020. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
8. Natalie Berry (November 8, 2019). "Japanese Federation sues IFSC, Olympic Selection Rule Changes Confuse". UK Climbing.
9. Natalie Berry (November 21, 2019). "IFSC Releases Toulouse Combined Qualifier Startlist". UK Climbing.
10. "QUALIFICATION SYSTEM – GAMES OF THE XXXII OLYMPIAD – TOKYO 2020" (PDF) (Press release). International Federation of Sport Climbing. 28 February 2020.
11. Corrigan, Kevin (4 March 2020). "IFSC Announces Coronavirus Contingency Plan for Asian Championship Olympic Qualification Spots". Climbing.
12. "Qualification system" (PDF). www.ifsc-climbing.org. 1 February 2019. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
13. John Burgman (August 21, 2019). "Highs and Lows: 2019 Climbing World Championships". Climbing.com.
14. "Confirmed qualified athletes". www.ifsc-climbing.org. IFSC. 4 November 2019. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
15. "Sport climbing: Japan's Noguchi earns Tokyo Olympic berth with world silver". The Mainichi. 21 August 2019.