How does a speed climb end, and what counts as a fall?

• Success: the climber "stops the timer by striking the finishing pad with a hand".
• The result: the actual climbing time.
• A slip: a loss of friction between foot and wall or hand and hold that slows or stops the upward movement.
• A fall: losing contact of the holds with both hands, or descending under the control of the auto-belay.
• Recovering: "A climber who has slipped may continue their attempt if they regain Control without having fallen."
• Missing the timer: striking the pad without stopping the timer is recorded as a fall.
• Other ways to fail: touching the ground, or gaining an advantage from out-of-bounds holds or from the safety equipment.
• What is written down: an unsuccessful run is recorded as a fall or a false start, depending on the cause.
• No appeal on the pad: a failure to stop the timer cannot be appealed where an approved system is in use.

The glossary has the fall, speed climbing, the official time, the control entry, the out of bounds entry and the technical incident.

The pad makes the finish exact: the climber's own hand stops their own clock. The fall rule was rewritten for this edition because the old wording produced odd results when both climbers slipped at about the same height. Now a climber who stays on the wall is still racing.