Who Was the Best at Each Style of Bouldering in 2024?

In part 3 of the 2024 boulder styles series, we look at how successful athletes were across the different styles of boulder problems.

Matias Ochoa Marcos and I broke down the semi-final and final problems from the 2024 Boulder World Cup series into five different attributes for both the zone and top scoring sections.

For each section, we recorded the style of the section: technical, physical, electric, or coordination.

This leads to the obvious question: who was the best at each of these styles?

Who was the best at the different styles?

Across the series, there were 40 boulders for women, with 80 scoring sections, and 36 boulders for men, with 72 scoring sections. The men's final in Keqiao was cancelled due to the rain.

Because of the Olympics, and the Olympic Qualification Series, many athletes chose not to attend a significant number of the World Cups. I included only athletes who have attempted more than 2 sections of the same style.

Physical

Janja Garnbret was one of the best women on physical boulders in 2024. The only physical section Janja couldn't complete was the top section of the second boulder in the Keqiao semi-final, even though she had four attempts.

Natalia Grossman matched Janja's success rate across the season. The only physical section she couldn't complete was the top section of the fourth boulder in the final in Seoul.

Dohyun Lee had the highest success percentage across men's physical sections. He competed in three Boulder World Cups in 2024, winning both the Seoul and Prague World Cups.

Sorato Anraku was 10th with a success rate of 53% across the 15 physical sections he competed on.

Technical

A few athletes managed to get a 100% success rate on technical sections, including Adam Ondra. However, these athletes only climbed on 3 or 4 sections. Below them, we see Sorato Anraku, Tomoa Narasaki, and Toby Roberts with the highest completion rates over the 25 sections.

Annie Sanders and Natalia Grossman completed the highest percentage of technical sections, completing 11 of the 14 sections they attempted.

Coordination

Natalia Grossman was also the best at coordination sections. The only section she didn't complete was the top section of the second semi-final problem in Prague.

Mejdi Schalck only attended two World Cups in 2024, Prague and Seoul, and he managed to complete all the coordination sections he attempted in these two semi-final rounds. Jakob Schubert, Nicolai Uznik, Adam Shahar, and Paul Jenft also had a 100% success rate.

Below them, the Japanese athletes dominated the coordination problems. Sorato Anraku had the chance to compete in all the different coordination sections.

Electric

Dohyun Lee topped the list for the men ahead of Tomoa Narasaki and Sorato Anraku.

Janja Garnbret completed all four of the electric sections she attempted. Natalia Grossman had the second highest success rate, even though she attempted over twice as many sections as Janja.

The only section Natalia didn't complete was the top section of the fourth boulder in the Salt Lake City World Cup, after a tricky precision jump on the slab to reach the zone.

Who was the best at slabs?

Across the 2024 series, there were 21 sections for women - 12 zones and 9 tops - and 14 for men - 8 zones and 6 tops - which were on a slab angle. Not every slab section was on the 'slab boulder' of the round.

Natalia Grossman had the highest success rate at slabs across the 2024 season, completing 85% of the sections. Mao Nakamura climbed the highest number of slab sections over the series, attempting 17 of the 21. She missed out on the Keqiao and Seoul finals.

Meichi Narasaki had the highest success rate on slabs in the 2024 series, completing every section.

Because Meichi didn't compete at the Olympics, or in the Olympic Qualifier Series, he attended every World Cup and climbed 12 of the 14 different slab sections across the series. Sorato Anraku was the only man to attempt every slab section in the series.

You can find boulder styles and 2024 IFSC Boulder World Cup results data here if you want to explore the data yourself.

Next week we will look at how successful the athletes were across the other attributes, and at the differences between the top 10 in the world and the rest.

News & Results

• The 2025 World Games took place at the end of last week. Here are the results:
  • In the standard two-lane speed format, Shouhong Chu of China won the gold medal, Samuel Watson from the USA won the silver, and Jianguo Long, from China, won the bronze.
    
    In the women's competition, China swept the podium. Lijuan Deng won the gold, Yumei Qin won the silver medal and Yafei Zhou took home the bronze.
  • In the new four-lane speed event, Desak Made Rita Kusuma Dewi, from Indonesia, won the gold medal; Yumei Qin from China came second, and Rajiah Sallsabillah, also from Indonesia, won the bronze.
    
    In the men's event, China's Jianguo Long won the gold, Kiromal Katibin from Indonesia won the silver, and Rishat Khaibullin from Kazakhstan won the bronze medal.
  • In the first Speed Relay, the Chinese team of Jianguo Long and Shouhong Chu won the gold medal ahead of Michael Hom and Logan Schlecht from the USA. Zach Hammer and Samuel Watson, also from the USA, set a World Record of 10.06 seconds to win the bronze medal in the relay event.
    
    China's Lijuan Deng and Yafei Zhou won the women's relay gold, their second medal of the World Games. They also hold the women's Speed Relay world record of 13.28 seconds, which they set in their semi-final race. Yumei Qin and Shaoqin Zhang, from China, finished second, whilst Jimin Jeong and Hanareum Sung from South Korea won the bronze medal.
• The final North American Cup Series event of the year is happening in Salt Lake City from the 22nd to 24th August. Natalia Grossman, Michaela Kiersch and Nathaniel Coleman will be competing at the event.
  
  The competition is Natalia's first competition since she had surgery for a torn ACL and meniscus in March this year.
  
  Michaela Kiersch became the first woman to climb 5.15 (9a+) and V15 (8c) last year after becoming the first woman to send Dreamtime. This is her first USA Climbing competition since 2019. She last competed in an IFSC Lead World Cup in 2014.
  
  The event will be Nathaniel's first USA Climbing competition since 2023.
  
  As usual, you can watch the competition on the USA Climbing YouTube channel. Tickets are available on Eventbrite.

Media Recommendations

Dipi and Xian reflect back on Hang, which recently became The Font Hounslow, and what the wall meant to the members of the community.

Madison Richardson breaks down the different techniques you need to climb V4.

Toby Roberts talks about the importance of mobility in climbing and how it is the "gift that keeps on giving."

Julien Clémence and Sofya Yokoyama share what the new Swiss training centre looks like.

Where to buy tickets

Koper IFSC Lead World Cup

When: 5th–6th September
Where: Slovenia
Where to buy tickets: Tickets are available through the Slovenian ticket seller eventim (Google Translate is quite good). If you buy a finals ticket at the moment you get a semi-final ticket for free.

Guiyang IFSC Lead World Cup

When: 12th–13th September
Where: China
Where to buy tickets: Tickets are available locally.

Seoul IFSC World Championship and Para Climbing World Championship

When: 20th–28th September
Where: South Korea
Where to buy tickets: Tickets will be needed for the following (all indoor events):

• Paraclimbing Finals
• Speed Qualification and Finals - Women and Men
• Lead Semi-Finals and Finals - Women and Men
• Boulder Semi-Finals and Finals - Women and Men.

All other events are free of charge. Access to the venue is limited. Entry is restricted to first-come, first-served.

Tickets for the indoor events are available through Interpark Global. The indoor rounds are held in the KSPO Dome in the Olympic Park.

Nations Grand Finale 2025

When: 23rd–26th October
Where: Japan
Where to buy tickets: The competition will be held at the Iizuka Sports Resort The Retreat, which is inaccessible by public transport. Tickets are TBD.

Laval IFSC Paraclimbing World Cup

When: 24th–26th October
Where: France
Where to buy tickets: You can buy tickets for the Para Climbing event and the Continental Speed event here.