What Counts as a Top? Controversy at US Men’s National Team Trials
A controversy in the men's field at the US Team Trials raises the question: What is a Top?
The US Men’s Bouldering National Team was decided yesterday at Stone Summit in Atlanta, Georgia. The event decided which three athletes would join US Olympian Nathaniel Coleman and World Cup Gold Medalist Sean Bailey on the US Boulder National Team. A controversy permeated the event with some calling out USA Climbing for playing favourites or failing to make consistent judgements between rounds.
The Controversy
According to the USA Climbing rulebook a Top is defined as the following:
8.12.2 A competitor’s attempt will be otherwise judged “Successful” where the competitor is in a Controlled position:
- i) with both hands matched on the Top Hold; or
- ii) standing on top of the boulder,
and in each case, the Climbing Judge may raise a hand and/or announce “OK”.
In the semi-final round, there was a point of concern regarding Charles Barron. Barron was awarded a Top despite slipping upon matching. Originally, he was not awarded the Top. Ultimately, he earned the Top after he appealed the call. According to USA Climbing’s own rules, a Top is described by controlling the finish. Naturally, control is a point of opinion. They judged Barron to have control of the hold despite his slip.
This is potentially fair, at the least, it is part of the game. However, when the same thing happened in finals, they did not award him a Top upon appeal. The attempts are very similar in terms of time spent matching and time spent controlled. Near-tops are always heartbreaking but important to judge correctly. Zander Waller was pushed out of finals by this call.
Waller was penalized with two yellow cards. He apologized in the above post. This is something rarely seen, but when he lashed out, Waller critiqued the judges and USA Climbing for favoritism. He did so in heated language. This language is in fact a violation of 3.14.1 of USA Climbing’s rules for conduct. Two yellow cards are grounds for disqualification. Waller will not be allowed to compete in Lead this weekend.
Any of the following matters will result in immediate Disqualification for Behavior:
a) not complying with the instructions of the judges, Event Organizer or USA Climbing officials when in the Competition Area;
b) distracting or interfering with any competitor who is preparing for or is attempting a route;
c) refusing to conform with the advertising regulations governing clothing and equipment;
d) being issued two (2) Yellow Cards in one Sanctioned Event.
In all sports, athletes must respect the decisions made by referees, but at the same time, USA Climbing and the IFSC have made provisions in the rules, 8.14.7 in the USA Climbing rulebook, for attempts that approach, but maybe fail to equal, a Top.
When a Top was questioned at least year’s Team Trial with Colin Duffy, Duffy returned to the matts to retry the boulder problem. He ultimately earned the Top. The same thing occurred with Canadian Olympian Sean McColl in an IFSC Boulder World Cup in Salt Lake. McColl was brought back onto the matts and he completed the problem. It is surprising that this decision was not afford to Waller’s appeal.
Previous US National Champion, and a commentator for this event, Alex Johnson even mentioned that she would not have awarded Barron’s attempt as a Top in the semi-final as she compared it to his near-Top of M3. This was the context and first major story of the US National Team Trials Competition. Barron, naturally, is not at fault. Barron climbed a good competition and appealed as any athlete might. It is the ruling against Waller that has provoked concern.
The Chi family described this concern in detail in a recent instagram post. The text is reproduced below.
If you hadn’t already heard, there was some controversy at National Team Trials yesterday. In semi finals (top video), a climber matched the finish for a split second before his foot popped off causing him to fall. At the time, the judges did not give him the top. He appealed the call and was granted the top after review. This allowed the climber to advance into finals.
@zanderwaller, on the other hand, was bumped down and missed finals due to the call. He reacted immaturely by letting his emotions get the better of him. As a result, he was given two yellow cards, his bouldering results were taken away and he isn’t allowed to compete in lead.
Then in bouldering finals (bottom video), the same controversy happened again. The same climber matched the finish hold for a split second before his foot popped off causing him to fall. Again, the judges did not give him the top and again the climber appealed the call. However, on appeal, the judges ruled that he did not have control.
We believe that those two calls were inconsistent with each other. Both matches were a split second before his foot popped. Note, however, the we don’t believe that the climber did anything wrong and we are truly sorry that you are in the middle of this controversy.
We believe that allowing split second matches to equal control creates a slippery slope.
We believe that the ruling in semi finals (ie, giving control) was controversial/surprising to everyone in the climbing community.
We believe that @zanderwaller had good reason to be upset. And while his actions were unsportsmanlike, he genuinely apologized for his actions.
We believe that the climbing community deserves an explanation and better transparency going forward.
We believe that USAC @usaclimbing should investigate the rumors of bias/preference.
But most importantly, we believe that USAC @usaclimbing has gone too far in disqualifying @zanderwaller for the rest of this competition. Taking away his bouldering results should be enough. And USAC should have shown some empathy considering the original call was so highly controversial.
The Competition
Then, the event began. Barron came out first on M1 with a strong first attempt. A delicate and difficult perch preceded a long jump to the sloping Zone hold. Barron could not attain the grip. In fact, only four athletes managed to secure this zone in what appeared to be one of the hardest moves of the competition.
Although Ross Fulkerson failed to attain the Top, he earned Zone in the final seconds. This pushed him ahead. He was the only athlete to attain Zone without jumping, turning the moving into an extended coordination move with a toe-hooking catch on the starting volume. He timed out before moving to the Top. Similarly, Ben Hanna did not Top, but secured the Zone multiple times. He could not pull through the final feet toward the finish.
US Olympian Colin Duffy sent the climb in two attempts and Zach Galla climbed it in four. They held first and second respectively as they moved into M2. The delicate traverse saw even fewer Tops than M1 and only Galla managed to squeak his way to the final hold. Duffy appeared frustrated by his attempts, but held down second position as no athlete, Duffy included, could attain Zone on M2.
M3 brought with a classic one-two dyno sequence where athletes jumped and moved quickly through gibbed volumes. Barron was out first and climbed well on the block, attaining Zone on his third attempt. On this go, he climbed beyond the Zone and secured the Top with one hand. On matching he appeared secure for half-a second and then shook off the wall as his left slipped from the volume his was bicycling on. We mentioned this instance earlier in comparison to his semi-final boulder.
Fulkerson, Duffy and Galla Topped and Fulkerson replaced Hanna in third position. Galla retained first with three Tops while Duffy held second with two Tops. M4 also proved challenging for all but Galla who nearly flashed the boulder. He dry fired off of a one-handed catch toward the Top, but picked up the problem on his next attempt. Duffy attained Zone but could not complete the problem. Hanna climbed into third position and the National Boulder team with his flash of M4. Fulkerson lost out to Hanna by attempts.
Result
1 – Zach Galla
2 – Colin Duffy
3 – Ben Hanna
4 – Ross Fulkerson
5 – Luke Muehring
6 – Charles Barron
US Boulder National Team
Sean Bailey
Nathaniel Coleman
Zach Galla
Colin Duffy
Ben Hanna
Featured image by Zander Waller
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