Hey there,
In Part 2 of my review of 2025, I look at the biggest change of the year: the new scoring system for bouldering.
How did the new Boulder Points system do?
In March 2025, the IFSC (now World Climbing) made a BIG change: they changed the bouldering scoring system. Gone were the days of counting tops, zones, and attempts. Now we had one number.
Personally, I am all for having points.
It creates a more flexible scoring system where we can decide what should matter. We could make a flash worth a lot more now if we wanted to, instead of being a tie-breaker. We could reward generalists by making the zone worth more or specialists by making it worth less. We could add more scoring holds beyond the zone and top if we wanted to.
It is also a lot easier to visualise the results using points instead of a 4-dimensional system like we had before.
The IFSC chose to award 25 points for a top and 10 points for a zone, with 0.1 points subtracted for every fall, no matter where it was on the boulder. They wanted to simplify the attempts compared to the previous system that separated the number of attempts to top from attempts to reach the zone.
One of the most crucial aspects of a scoring system is the number of ties it creates, especially the lack of them. So how many ties did we get in each competition? Did we get significantly more than the previous top-zone system?
How many ties did we have?
By penalising athletes by 0.1 points for falls in the section between the top and the zone (top section) and between the start and the zone (zone section), the system is naturally coarser than the previous one.
By allocating zones 10 points so that 3 zones are more than one top, we would also expect to get more ties in the qualification round.
By a tie, I mean when two or more athletes have the same score. To assess the impact of ties, I count how many athletes are involved in ties for each round and each group when there are two qualification rounds.
Not only do we have more ties, we get significantly more ties using the new scoring system than the old one. The qualification round has the most ties, the semi-final has less, but still a significant number. The final does not, but there are only eight athletes in the final, so the sample size is much smaller.
Innsbruck has the highest number of ties. There were 39 tie events involving 98 athletes across six different rounds and groups. Innsbruck also had the highest number of athletes of any competition last year, 195 men and women.
| Competition | Sex | New Tie Events (New) | # Athletes in Ties (New) | Tie Events (old) | # Athletes in Ties (Old) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Innsbruck | Men | 25 | 62 | 22 | 58 |
| Prague | Men | 18 | 38 | 5 | 11 |
| Innsbruck | Women | 14 | 36 | 12 | 32 |
| SLC | Women | 15 | 31 | 7 | 16 |
| Curitiba | Men | 12 | 28 | 8 | 16 |
| Prague | Women | 13 | 27 | 4 | 8 |
| Keqiao | Women | 10 | 26 | 4 | 14 |
| Bern | Women | 12 | 26 | 9 | 18 |
| Bern | Men | 11 | 24 | 7 | 15 |
| Keqiao | Men | 9 | 21 | 1 | 2 |
| Curitiba | Women | 8 | 20 | 5 | 14 |
| SLC | Men | 8 | 17 | 3 | 6 |
We had ties in four different finals: Salt Lake City and Bern for the women, and Keqiao and Prague for the men.
In Salt Lake City, there were 3 women tied on 70 points between second and fourth place. Fortunately, countback to the semi-final could be used to split them. The ties would have happened in the old system as well. In Bern, Oceania Mackenzie and Anon Matsufuji were tied sixth in the final.
In Keqiao, Mejdi Schalck and Sam Avezou were tied for fifth place with 69.5 points. In Prague, Sorato Anraku and Sam Richards were tied on 84.1 points in second place, with countback being used to split them.
Because of the number of ties, many coaches want to increase the deduction for falls in the top section compared to the zone section. This would hopefully reduce the number of ties in the qualification round.
This year is the final year World Climbing can change the scoring system before Olympic qualification starts in 2027, because the format has to stay the same for 2027 and 2028 for the Olympic process.
Will they complicate the scoring at the expense of explainability to avoid ties, or do they have something else up their sleeve for the format?
2026 is their last chance to get it right.
News
- World Climbing announced that Manchester, UK, will host a World Climbing Series event in 2027. The last event was in Edinburgh in 2022 in Ratho (which I went to). The event will feature Lead, Speed, and Para Climbing Lead.
- World Climbing also announced the launch of the World Climbing Oceania YouTube channel. The channel is the third continental channel after IFSC Europe (now World Climbing Europe) launched in 2024 and IFSC Pan America (now World Climbing Pan America) launched in November 2025. The channel will host the World Climbing Oceania Championship in Speed on 14 February. There is also the World Climbing Oceania Series Boulder event in New South Wales on 28 February.
- The Pro Climbing League has announced that Camilla Moroni will join Annie Sanders, Erin McNeice and Olympic champion Janja Garnbret for the London event. Three other women will be invited to the event, and one woman can qualify as a wildcard through a qualifier event on 7 February.
- The Pro Climbing League also announced Mikael Mawen as the fifth man to compete in the Pro Climbing League. He joins Toby Roberts, Mejdi Schalck, Tomoa Narasaki, and Yannick Flohé. Two more men will be invited, and 1 more man can qualify as a wild card through the qualifier event.
- You can now register to take part in the PCL qualifier event on 7 February, at The Font Wandsworth. There will be 40 boulders in a standard scramble qualifier format. The top 20 sends count towards your score, like Brawl on the Wall. The top six men and top six women will advance to the qualifier finals later that day.
- We now know more about the PCL seed round happening on 27 February, the day before the first event in London. The seed round will also be streamed on Red Bull TV, and the format will be 4 boulders for the men and 4 for the women in a classic finals format (I assume IFSC/World Climbing format with 4+ minutes per boulder?). The result of that will determine the running order for the PCL event the next day.
- Dockmasters, the first of the “classic” spring bouldering competitions, finished this weekend. You can rewatch the live stream on YouTube. Selma Elhadj Mimoune won the women's event ahead of Giorgia Tesio and Lucija Tarkus. Guillermo Peinado Franganillo won the men's event ahead of Slav Kirov and Sam Richards.
Media
Continuing the 2025 review theme, here are some of my favourite pieces from the past year.
- Testpiece Climbing Podcast by Josh Horsley: The Testpiece Climbing podcast dips in and out of competition climbing (mostly out), but I really enjoyed his interview with Annie Sanders, Shauna Coxsey, and the CEO of Mad Rock, Kenny Suh. The new regular 'Board Talk' and 'Good Temps' episodes are nice additions.
- Janja Garnbret: Janja Garnbret doesn't do much media outside of competitions, and it was cool to see her give an interview on Climbing Gold, a collab with Magnus, and feature in the Natural Heights Red Bull series about her defending her World Championship medals last year.
- Xian and Dipi: My favourite new climbing YouTube channel of 2025 was Xian Goh and Dipika Hopkins' new channel. My favourite episodes were about the dark side of competition climbing and Dipi talking about coming back from injury.
- Mejdi Schalck: Mejdi is one of the pros who stepped up their YouTube game last year. He shared more of his training and experience in competition last year, both in French and English. My favourites were trying to climb all 100 hard climbs across Paris in a day, how he won the Prague World Cup, and what a World Cup simulation looks like.
Where to Buy Tickets
You can now buy tickets for the British Boulder Championships on the BMC website next weekend.
British Boulder Championships
When: 24–25 January 2026
Where: Depot Climbing Centre Trafford, Manchester, UK
Disciplines: Boulder
Where to buy tickets: Avaliable through Eventbrite for Semi-final and Final.
Live Stream: The event is usually live streamed on YouTube on BMC TV.
British Lead Championships
When: 21–22 February 2026
Where: Manchester, UK
Disciplines: Lead
Where to buy tickets: TBC
Live Stream: The event is usually live streamed on YouTube on BMC TV.
Pro Climbing League - London
When: 28 February 2026
Where: Magazine London, UK
Disciplines: Boulder (PCL format)
Where to buy tickets: All 2300 tickets are sold out.
Live Stream: The event will be streamed live on Red Bull TV.
The (final) Rab CWIF 2026
When: 21–22 March 2026
Where: The Climbing Works, Sheffield, UK
Disciplines: Boulder
Where to buy tickets: To be announced. Usually available from early February to compete and watch. This will be the last CWIF.
Live Stream: The semi-final and finals will be live streamed on YouTube on the Climbing Works YouTube channel.
World Climbing Series Keqiao 2026
When: 1–3 May 2026
Where: Keqiao, China
Disciplines: Boulder
Where to buy tickets: Tickets will be available locally.
Live Stream: Available on TV and the World Climbing YouTube page, subject to geographical restrictions.
World Climbing Series Wujiang 2026
When: 8–10 May 2026
Where: Wujiang, China
Disciplines: Lead and Speed
Where to buy tickets: Tickets will be available locally.
Live Stream: Available on TV and the World Climbing YouTube page, subject to geographical restrictions.
World Climbing Para Series Salt Lake City 2026
When: 15–16 May 2026
Where: Salt Lake City, USA
Disciplines: Lead
Where to buy tickets: TBC
Live Stream: Available on the World Climbing YouTube page.
World Climbing Series Bern 2026
When: 22–24 May 2026
Where: Bern, Switzerland
Disciplines: Boulder
Where to buy tickets: You can buy tickets here.
Live Stream: Available on TV and the World Climbing YouTube page, subject to geographical restrictions.
World Climbing Series Madrid 2026
When: 28–31 May 2026
Where: Madrid, Spain
Disciplines: Boulder and Speed
Where to buy tickets: TBC
Live Stream: Available on TV and the World Climbing YouTube page, subject to geographical restrictions.
World Climbing Series Prague 2026
When: 3–7 June 2026
Where: Prague, Czechia
Disciplines: Boulder and Lead
Where to buy tickets: You can buy tickets here.
Live Stream: Available on TV and the World Climbing YouTube page, subject to geographical restrictions.
World Climbing Para Series Innsbruck 2026
When: 15–16 June 2026
Where: Innsbruck, Austria
Disciplines: Lead
Where to buy tickets: The is usually free to attend for both qualifications and finals.
Live Stream: Available on the World Climbing YouTube page.
World Climbing Series Innsbruck 2026
When: 17–21 June 2026
Where: Innsbruck, Austria
Disciplines: Boulder and Lead
Where to buy tickets: You can buy tickets here. Last year they were made available in April and sold out fast.
Live Stream: Available on TV and the World Climbing YouTube page, subject to geographical restrictions.
World Climbing Series Krakow 2026
When: 3–5 July 2026
Where: Krakow, Poland
Disciplines: Speed
Where to buy tickets: Free to watch.
Live Stream: Available on TV and the World Climbing YouTube page, subject to geographical restrictions.
World Climbing Series Chamonix 2026
When: 10–12 July 2026
Where: Chamonix, France
Disciplines: Lead and Speed
Where to buy tickets: Free to watch, though find a place to sit early as it get packed.
Live Stream: Available on TV and the World Climbing YouTube page, subject to geographical restrictions.
World Climbing Europe Series Championship Barcelona 2026
When: 17–19 July 2026
Where: Barcelona, Spain
Disciplines: Boulder
Where to buy tickets: TBC
Live Stream: Will be available on the World Climbing Europe YouTube page.
World Climbing Youth Championship Arco 2026
When: 18–25 July 2026
Where: Arco, Italy
Disciplines: Boulder, Lead, and Speed
Where to buy tickets: TBC
Live Stream: Available on TV and the World Climbing YouTube page, subject to geographical restrictions.
World Climbing Europe Championship Laval 2026
When: 28–30 August 2026
Where: Laval, France
Disciplines: Lead and Speed
Where to buy tickets: TBC
Live Stream: Will be available on the World Climbing Europe YouTube page.
World Climbing Para Series Laval 2026
When: 28–29 August 2026
Where: Laval, France
Disciplines: Lead
Where to buy tickets: TBC
Live Stream: Available on the World Climbing YouTube page.
World Climbing Series Koper 2026
When: 4–5 September 2026
Where: Koper, Slovenia
Disciplines: Lead
Where to buy tickets: You will be able to buy tickets here later in the year.
Live Stream: Available on TV and the World Climbing YouTube page, subject to geographical restrictions.
World Climbing Series Guiyang 2026
When: 11–13 September 2026
Where: Guiyang, China
Disciplines: Speed
Where to buy tickets: You will be able to buy tickets locally.
Live Stream: Available on TV and the World Climbing YouTube page, subject to geographical restrictions.
World Climbing Series Chongqing 2026
When: 18–20 September 2026
Where: Chongqing, China
Disciplines: Speed
Where to buy tickets: You will be able to buy tickets locally.
Live Stream: Available on TV and the World Climbing YouTube page, subject to geographical restrictions.
Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026
When: 19 September–4 October 2026
Where: Nagoya, Japan
Disciplines: Lead, Speed, and Boulder
Where to buy tickets: TBC.
Live Stream: TBC.
World Climbing Series Salt Lake City 2026
When: 16–18 October 2026
Where: Salt Lake City, USA
Disciplines: Boulder
Where to buy tickets: TBC.
Live Stream: Available on TV and the World Climbing YouTube page, subject to geographical restrictions.
World Climbing Series Santiago 2026
When: 23–25 October 2026
Where: Santiago, Chile
Disciplines: Lead and Speed
Where to buy tickets: TBC
Live Stream: Available on TV and the World Climbing YouTube page, subject to geographical restrictions.
World Climbing Para Series Gunsan 2026
When: 30 October –1 November 2026
Where: Gunsan, South Korea
Disciplines: Lead
Where to buy tickets: TBC
Live Stream: Available on the World Climbing YouTube page.
LA2028 Olympic Games
When: 14–29 July 2028
Where: LA, USA
Where to buy tickets: Registration for the first ticket draw opens on 14 January 2026.
