Speed Climbing at the LA28 Olympics: What to Know

Speed climbing has never been bigger, faster, or closer to the spotlight than it is right now. World records are falling almost every season, sub-six-second runs are the new normal for women and sub-five for men, and the road to Los Angeles is drawing a fresh wave of fans and first-timers to the wall. If you've been curious about the sport, the years leading into the LA28 Games are the best possible time to start paying attention.

Here's everything you need to know about speed climbing at the Olympics, how a race actually works, and who to watch as the countdown to Los Angeles begins.

Is speed climbing in the Olympics?

Yes. Speed climbing is an official Olympic sport, and its Olympic story is short but fast-moving.

Sport climbing made its debut at the Tokyo 2020 Games as a single combined event. Athletes had to compete across all three disciplines, speed, bouldering, and lead, with their finishes scored together into one overall result. That format was controversial. Speed is a raw sprint; bouldering and lead are puzzles of endurance and problem-solving. Forcing specialists to compete outside their strength made for an awkward mashup, and speed specialists in particular were penalized for a system that never really fit them.

That changed at Paris 2024, where speed climbing split off into its own standalone medal event for the first time. Finally, the fastest climbers on the planet were racing for gold on their own terms. Veddriq Leonardo of Indonesia won the men's title, Aleksandra Miroslaw of Poland took the women's gold, and American Sam Watson grabbed bronze while smashing the world record in the process. It was a breakout moment for the discipline.

LA28 continues that momentum. Speed climbing will again be contested as its own standalone medal event at the Los Angeles 2028 Games, cementing its place as a permanent Olympic fixture rather than a one-off experiment. If you've ever wondered is speed climbing an Olympic sport, the answer now comes with its own medals attached.

How does Olympic speed climbing work?

The beauty of speed climbing is its simplicity. Two athletes, two lanes, one wall, and a race decided by hundredths of a second.

Every Olympic speed race happens on a standardized 15-meter wall set at a 5-degree overhang. The holds never change: exactly 20 hand holds and 11 foot holds, arranged in the same pattern on every regulation wall in the world. That's the genius of the format. Because the route is identical everywhere, a climber can rehearse the exact same sequence thousands of times, and the wall you'd train on at your local gym is the same one they'll race on in Los Angeles. You can read more about what speed climbing is and how that route came to be standardized.

Here's how a run unfolds:

• Climbers connect to an auto belay that catches them the moment they let go at the top.
• They set up on a pressure-sensitive start pad and wait for the starter's signal.
• On the buzzer, they explode upward, hitting a timing buzzer at the top to stop the clock.
• Times are recorded to the thousandth of a second (1/1000s), which is why photo-finish margins are so common.
• A false start means instant elimination, no second chances. React too early and your day is over.

That knife-edge tension is what makes the sport so watchable. A single twitch can end a career-defining run, and the difference between gold and going home is often smaller than a blink.

Want to actually understand what you're watching before LA28? The Skool community breaks down the wall, the holds, and the racing tactics in plain language. Join the community here and learn the sport from the ground up.

How is LA28 different from Paris 2024?

The wall and the holds stay the same, but the way climbers race is evolving fast, and that evolution is aimed squarely at making the sport more thrilling to watch.

Paris 2024 used the traditional two-lane, head-to-head bracket: two climbers race side by side, winner advances, loser is out. It's dramatic, but it means the crowd only ever watches one duel at a time.

In 2026, a new four-lane head-to-head format debuted in Madrid, putting four athletes on the wall simultaneously. Instead of a single matchup, spectators get a genuine multi-lane sprint, closer in feel to a track final than a one-on-one duel. It raises the stakes, compresses the drama, and makes the racing even more explosive for a live audience. Formats continue to be refined heading into Los Angeles, but the direction is clear: faster, denser, more spectator-friendly racing.

Combined with times measured to the thousandth and the ever-present threat of a false start, speed climbing is being purpose-built as a made-for-TV Olympic event. You can track world records and events as the format keeps evolving toward 2028.

Who will win speed climbing at LA28?

Nobody can call the podium this far out, but the records era has produced a roster of names worth knowing now.

On the men's side, Zhao Yicheng of China set a staggering world record of 4.54 seconds at just 17 years old, a run that redefined what's physically possible on the wall. Veddriq Leonardo, the reigning Paris champion, and Sam Watson, the American who broke the record on his way to bronze in Paris, remain forces to watch.

On the women's side, the story is just as electric. Emma Hunt of the USA became the first woman ever to break the six-second barrier, holding the record at 5.99 seconds. Aleksandra Miroslaw, the Polish legend and Paris gold medalist, has dominated the women's field for years, though she has announced she'll retire at the end of 2026, which blows the women's race at LA28 wide open.

That combination, a retiring champion and a rising generation of record-breakers, sets up one of the most unpredictable Olympic speed fields we've ever seen. For a fuller rundown, check out our list of climbers to watch heading into the Games.

How a beginner today can ride the LA28 wave

Here's the part most people miss: you don't need to be an elite athlete to get involved right now, and the window before LA28 is the perfect on-ramp.

Because the Olympic wall is standardized, the route the pros race is the exact same one you'd learn on day one. There are no shifting problems or endless grades to grind through, just one 15-meter sequence to master and get faster at. It's the most beginner-friendly discipline in all of climbing, and the surge of interest heading into Los Angeles means more gyms are installing speed walls and more communities are forming around the sport than ever before.

Learning the beta, the precise sequence of movements up the wall, gives you a shared language with the athletes you'll be watching on TV. Suddenly a 5-second run isn't just a blur; it's a route you know, hold by hold. That's what turns a casual viewer into a genuine fan, and often into a climber.

The climbers who'll be racing in Los Angeles started exactly where you are now: clipping into an auto belay and learning one route. The LA28 spotlight is coming, interest is exploding, and there's never been a better moment to be part of it from the start.

Don't just watch the Olympics, understand them. Join the Skool community to learn the wall, the format, and the beta before the LA28 Games, so you're ready to race, or ready to actually know what you're cheering for.