These Climbers Can Still Make the Olympics

The 2024 Paris Olympics are a little over half a year away. Unlike in Tokyo, the sport of climbing is going to be split into two different disciplines in Paris: Boulder & Lead Combined and Speed. In total, twenty men and twenty women will compete in the Boulder & Lead Combined event. Fourteen men and fourteen women will face off in Speed.

So far, eight athletes of each gender have qualified for their chance to compete in the Boulder & Lead event. These qualifying spots were granted through the 2023 World Champions in Bern, the 2023 Pan American Games, and a series of continental Olympic qualifying competitions held around the world over the past few months. Below is a list of climbers who have already earned their ticket to Paris in Boulder & Lead Combined:

Olympic Competitors – Men

• Jakob Schubert (AUT)
• Colin Duffy (USA)
• Tomoa Narasaki (JPN)
• Jesse Grupper (USA)
• Toby Roberts (GBR)
• Sorato Anraku (JPN)
• Campbell Harrison (AUS)
• Mel Janse van Rensburg (RSA)

Olympic Competitors – Women

• Janja Garnbret (SLO)
• Jessica Pilz (AUT)
• Ai Mori (JPN)
• Natalia Grossman (USA)
• Oriane Bertone (FRA)
• Zhang Yuetong (CHN)
• Oceana Mackenzie (AUS)
• Lauren Mukheibir (RSA)

You’ve likely noticed that there are some big names missing from these lists. Brooke Raboutou, Adam Ondra, Miho Nonaka, Alex Megos, Chaehyun Seo, and Mejdi Schalck, to name just a few. These climbers will have one final opportunity to compete for an Olympic qualifying spot: the Olympic Qualifier Series in May and June 2024. The IFSC just released the names of the 32 athletes in each gender category who have earned their chance to participate in the series. The primary criteria for qualification was athlete IFSC World Rankings in the Boulder & Lead discipline.

Held in Shanghai from May 16 to 19 and Budapest from June 20 to 23, this Olympic Qualifier Series will award 10 Olympic tickets in each gender category. Two additional spots will then be granted: one for the host nation (France) and one “universality” place for typically underrepresented nations in climbing. If the host nation spot is already filled through qualifying competitions, as it was already by Oriane Bertone in the women’s field, it will be reallocated to the highest ranked climber without a qualifying spot. Below is a list of climbers who have earned their chance to compete at the Olympic Qualifier Series:

Olympic Qualifier Series – Women

• Brooke RABOUTOU (USA)
• Miho NONAKA (JPN)
• Chaehyun SEO (KOR)
• Jain KIM (KOR)
• Vita LUKAN (SLO)
• Mia KRAMPL (SLO)
• Anastasia SANDERS (USA)
• Futaba ITO (JPN)
• Nonoha KUME (JPN)
• Hélène JANICOT (FRA)
• Manon HILY (FRA)
• Ayala KEREM (ISR)
• Hannah MEUL (GER)
• Stasa GEJO (SRB)
• Molly THOMPSON-SMITH (GBR)
• Fanny GIBERT (FRA)
• Laura ROGORA (ITA)
• Luo ZHILU (CHN)
• Ryu NAKAGAWA (JPN)
• Zélia AVEZOU (FRA)
• Ievgeniia KAZBEKOVA (UKR)
• Eliska ADAMOVSKA (CZE)
• Sara COPAR (SLO)
• Camilla MORONI (ITA)
• Lucka RAKOVEC (SLO)
• Kyra CONDIE (USA)
• Lynn VAN DER MEER (NED)
• Lucia DÖRFFEL (GER)
• Giorgia TESIO (ITA)
• Petra KLINGLER (SUI)
• Noa SHIRAN (ISR)
• Roxana WIENAND (GER)
• Elnaz REKABI (IRI)
• Franziska STERRER (AUT)
• Yejoo SEO (KOR)
• Erin MCNIECE (GBR)
• Aleksandra TOTKOVA (BUL)
• Sandra HOPFENSITZ (GER)
• Alannah YIP (CAN)
• Michaela SMETANOVA (CZE)
• Maya STASIUK (AUS)
• Kylie CULLEN (USA)
• Martina BURŠÍKOVÁ (SVK)
• Valentina AGUADO (ARG)
• Sol SA (KOR)
• Chloe CAULIER (BEL)
• Tegwen OATES (RSA)
• Svana BJARNASON (ISL)

Olympic Qualifier Series – Men

• Mejdi SCHALCK (FRA)
• Dohyun LEE (KOR)
• Alexander MEGOS (GER)
• Adam ONDRA (CZE)
• Sam AVEZOU (FRA)
• Yannick FLOHÉ (GER)
• Sascha LEHMANN (SUI)
• Paul JENFT (FRA)
• Alberto GINÉS LÓPEZ (ESP)
• Jongwon CHON (KOR)
• Hannes VAN DUYSEN (BEL)
• Yufei PAN (CHN)
• Mickael MAWEM (FRA)
• Simon LORENZI (BEL)
• Nicolas COLLIN (BEL)
• Yunchan SONG (KOR)
• Luka POTOCAR (SLO)
• Nicolai UZNIK (AUT)
• Hamish MCARTHUR (GBR)
• Jan-Luca POSCH (AUT)
• Stefan SCHERZ (AUT)
• Nimrod MARCUS (ISR)
• Maximilian MILNE (GBR)
• Hannes PUMAN (SWE)
• Edvards GRUZITIS (LAT)
• Martin STRANIK (CZE)
• Stefano GHISOLFI (ITA)
• Anze PEHARC (SLO)
• Martin BERGANT (SLO)
• Jack MACDOUGALL (GBR)
• Jonas UTELLI (SUI)
• Sean MCCOLL (CAN)
• Filip SCHENK (ITA)
• Nikolay RUSEV (BUL)
• Marcello BOMBARDI (ITA)
• Ravianto RAMADHAN (INA)
• James POPE (GBR)
• Zan LOVENJAK SUDAR (SLO)
• Giorgio TOMATIS (ITA)
• Alex KHAZANOV (ISR)
• Oscar BAUDRAND (CAN)
• Yuval SHEMLA (ISR)
• Geva LEVIN (ISR)
• Yannick NAGEL (GER)
• Raviandi RAMADHAN (INA)
• Christopher COSSER (RSA)
• Dylan PARKS (AUS)
• Nimród Sebastyén TUSNÁDY (HUN)

You might have noticed that there are no men representing the U.S.A. or Japan. This is because these two countries have already filled their two-athlete quota for the Paris Olympics. Team USA members Colin Duffy and Jesse Grupper earned their Olympic tickets at the World Championships and Pan American Games respectively. Team Japan athlete Tomoa Narasaki won his ticket World Championships, and his teammate Sorato Anraku won his at the Asia Qualifier.