This Year’s World Cup Will Feature New Rules

The International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) just announced several important rule changes coming to the 2025 World Cup series for both Boulder and Lead disciplines. These new rules include alterations to the number of semi-final and final spots, modifications to running orders, and a new scoring system. The rules will impact the individual athletes and teams competing, as well as the viewers watching the comp on livestream or in person.

The first event of the World Cup 2025 series is taking place from April 18 to 20 in Keqiao, China. The new rules will apply to this event as well as all other events through the remainder of the season. The full IFSC World Cup Series 2025 calendar can be found here. Let’s take a look at each of these newly announced rule changes:

More Boulder semi-finalists

Previously, Boulder World Cup semi-final rounds consisted of 20 athletes (per gender category). Moving forward this number is being bumped up to 24 athletes. This rule change reduces the pressure of the qualification round slightly, as four more climbers get to move on to the semi-final round.

Fewer Lead semi-finalists

In past Lead World Cup competitions, 26 athletes (per gender category) competed in the semi-final rounds. As part of the new rule changes, this number is being reduced to 24. This change aligns the number of semi-final spots in Boulder and Lead, at 24 each.

More Boulder finalists

If you’re a World Cup fan, you know that Boulder World Cups have typically had six athletes (per gender category) competing in the finals, while Lead had eight. Moving forward, Boulder World Cups will now feature eight climbers in the finals, just as has been the norm for Lead finals. The IFSC says that the “expanded number of finals places is thought to help increase the probability of more nations claiming finals appearances.”

Running order changes for Boulder finals

Boulder World Cup finals have typically been run with athletes coming out on stage one by one to attempt a problem. The climber would get the spotlight all to themselves each of the four times they came out to try a boulder problem, with the audience getting to closely watch their process on each bloc, from start to finish.

With eight climbers now in the Boulder finals, this format is a thing of the past. The running order will change so that multiple climbers will now be out on the mats at the same time, with the only exception being first and last rotation where only one climber will be featured. This format will be similar to that seen at the Paris Olympics or Olympic Qualifier events where eight athletes competed in a Boulder final round.

The IFSC says that climbers will no longer come out one-by-one in order to “help ensure viewers see continuous climbing with climbers on the wall while others may take some rest or route reading time on the mat.” It’s almost certainly also to reduce the length of the final round.

This rule change, however, has implications for everyone. Live audience members will now have to focus their attention across multiple climbers at once. Viewers of the livestream will be at the whim of the camera and production crew for what they get to watch. And most climbers will no longer get the opportunity to perform on stage alone.

New Boulder scoring system

Starting in Keqiao next month, a new scoring system will be used for Boulder events, quite similar to the one used at the Paris Olympics. The previous system of Boulder World Cup scoring could be quite confusing to newcomers of the sport. You can read our explainer about it here.

Here’s how it used to work: The climber with the most tops earned first place in that round. If climbers were tied in the number of tops, then the number of zones they secured across the round was used to break the tie. If both tops and zones were tied, the number of attempts it took them to reach the tops was used. Climbers are always aware of this and try to climb a problem in the least number of tries possible.

If the top attempts metric was also tied, the number of attempts it took them to reach the zones was the tiebreaker. In the very rare event that competitors were tied across all four of these scores, their standing in the previous round would be used to break the tie.

Things are a little simpler with the points-based system. A zone is worth 10 points and a top is worth an additional 15 points, for a total of 25 points per problem. A deduction of 0.1 points is made for each unsuccessful attempt. For example, if a climber flashes a problem, they are awarded 25 points. If they top the problem on their second attempt, they get 24.9 points (25 – 0.1 = 25). If they reach the zone on their first attempt but then fail to top the problem, they are awarded 10 points. If they reach the zone on their third attempt, they are awarded 9.8 points (10 – 0.1 – 0.1 = 9.8). The points for each boulder in a round are added together to give a final score. In the finals where there are four problems, 100 points are up for grabs (25 x 4 = 100).

The IFSC says “this change in scoring is intended to make following the progress of climbers and the positions on the leaderboard much easier – for climbers, and for newcomers to the sport.” This is almost certainly true, as any long-time Boulder World Cup viewer can attest. Being confused about current standings at any point of the event, particularly in close competitions where number of attempts mattered, was a frequent occurrence for audience members, athletes, and even the commentary team.