Climbing may have left viewers and even some athletes scratching their heads on its Olympic debut in Tokyo but there was no doubt in Paris that the sport is here to stay as one of the hottest tickets in town and with an expanded fanbase across the globe. In contrast to a spectator-less Games three years ago, a 7,000-strong crowd in climbing-mad France packed Le Bourget every day to support all 68 athletes regardless of their flags.

The doubling of golds ushered in a historic, first-ever Olympic title for Indonesia outside badminton and two medals for Poland - a vindication for the speed-climbing powerhouses. In boulder and lead, Slovenia's Janja Garnbret sprinkled star-power appeal to the sport by claiming back-to-back gold, and Toby Roberts came to the UK with his first ever participation and Gold Medal.

Janja Garnbret becomes two times Gold Medallist

Janja Garnbret became two-time Olympic champion after winning the Boulder & Lead final at Paris 2024. Three years on from winning the combined event at Tokyo 2020, the Slovenian sport climbing great reigned supreme once more with a score of 168.5.

The 25-year-old did so despite an injury worry after the Boulder half of the final, but she put those concerns to one side with a 84.1 in the Lead to finish ahead of USA’s Brooke Raboutou (156.0) and Austria’s Jessica Pilz (147.4).

Garnbret held a narrow lead after the Boulder event, although even she was unable to scale the tricky final boulder, and grimaced after falling with an apparent finger injury. Her score of 84.4 points was just 0.4 more than Raboutou, with the pair holding a healthy advantage over the chasing pack.

They weren’t to know, however, given climbers are unaware of their rivals’ scores during the competition, making for a fascinating Lead half of the final on Saturday afternoon. And out they came, one by one, from the isolation zone to the stage in their attempt to scale the 15-metre wall. Team GB’s Erin McNeice moved into medal contention when a 68.1 in the Lead gave her a score of 127.6 points overall with four climbers remaining.

It was then the turn of reigning Lead world champion Mori Ai of Japan, who had struggled in the Boulder with a 39.0 but then displaced McNeice at the top with a remarkable 96.1 – for 135.1 overall. Raboutou then guaranteed herself a medal when a 72.0 saw her leapfrog Mori, with just Pilz and Garnbret left to go out.

Pilz got on the podium, too, bursting into tears after learning her Lead was enough for a silver or bronze, and that left just Garnbret. Unaware of what she would need for gold, Garnbret edged closer and closer to the medal she was out to defend, and she surpassed that mark to huge cheers to win by 12.5 points overall.

Toby Roberts and his first Olympics

Great Britain’s Toby Roberts confidently climbed to the top spot of the men’s boulder and lead with 7,000 spectators cheering him. Sorato Anraku of Japan took the silver, and Austria’s Jakob Schubert rounded out the podium with the bronze.

Roberts ended the morning finals in a provisional third place. He proved to be a top contender in the boulder finals, breezing through the first problem and sending #3 in just three goes. The first British male climber to secure a place at the Olympics, he wowed the crowd making quick work of the first section of the lead final to overtake Schubert’s leading score with a 155.2.

Schubert came up and topped the table with a dyno to the top hold for a final score of 139.6. Sorato, leader of the board after the boulder final, kept his cool after his sensational morning performance that saw him as the only man to send boulder 1. The japanese contender started out well, but began to have problems halfway up the wall. He seemed to have trouble maintaining his energy and fell just one hold from the top for a 145.4 finish.

Defending Olympic champion Alberto Gines Lopez had a frustrating start of the day with a failure to launch on the first boulder problem. The Spaniard’s time ran out before he could figure out how to start and finished still on the mats with no score. 

It didn’t seem to be his competition this morning, battling through the next three bouldering problems and finishing the boulder run with a subpar 24.1. He gave it his best shot on the lead final, but fell with just a few holds to the top. Just like that, he lost the Olympic crown, finishing the finals in seventh place. 

Climbing legend Adam Ondra also had trouble securing any points on one of the boulder problems. The Czech-native failed to send his first problem of the day and kept falling on a tricky sequence. With only a low zone on block #4, he ended the boulder round tied in last place with Gines Lopez. 

His lead performance was almost redeeming and was on his way to grab the top hold. Unfortunately, he fell just short of sending the route and exited the arena clearly disappointed. Sport climbing resumes on 10 August with the women’s boulder final at 10:15 CEST, followed by the lead final at 12:35 CEST.

Speed climbing: two new records

In men's speed climbing, USA’s Sam Watson rounded out the podium with a bronze, despite setting a new world record at an astonishing 4.74 seconds. It was the fourth time this year that the 18-year-old American has broken the men's speed world record, and the second time, clocking in at 4.75 seconds during the elimination heat. Watson faced Reza Alipour of Iran in the small final, with Alipour losing out on a podium finish with a 4.88.

Leonardo performed well in the quarter-finals, clocking in at 4.88, well ahead of his contender, France’s Bassa Mawem who finished with a 5.26. The three-time World Cup champion is Indonesia’s first Olympic gold medallist in an event outside badminton. There were high hopes for Wu, who had one of the fastest qualifying times in the Olympic Qualifier Series in Shanghai. Though the world-class competition at Le Bourget saw the top Chinese contender settling for a second-place finish.

For the women's, and after her first place finish in the women’s speed climbing final at the Paris Olympics, Aleksandra Mirosław of Poland now holds two speed climbing records. The first is the women’s speed world record of 6.06 seconds, a time she raced in Monday’s Olympic seeding round. The second is the achievement of being the first athlete ever to be crowned Olympic speed climbing champion.

A new (and better) method in Paris 2024

Unlike in Tokyo where the men and women had to fight for one gold each, climbers could shine in their specialised disciplines this time, with speed separated from bouldering and lead. "This feels like the real debut of climbing for sure," free solo rock climbing great Alex Honnold told Reuters. "It feels like there's a lot more energy around the sport this year."

Tokyo's combining of the three disciplines into one event had forced climbers to train in disciplines they do not normally compete in and resulted in some surprises on the podium.

The climbing federation is eyeing a further separation of the boulder and lead events in Los Angeles 2028 and beyond. That decision is due next year. Honnold said he perceived the momentum heading in that direction as he watched the competition unfold in Paris alongside organisers. "The best thing about the Olympics is to see humans perform at their absolute best, to see people do what they're absolutely best at," he said to Reuters.