How are speed climbers ranked in qualification, and how are ties broken?
A · Advanced · The race · 1 of 3By their best time, fastest first. Climbers with the same best time are separated by their next best result, looking at every race they started in the event. Results are ordered: a valid time, then a fall, then a false start, then not started. Climbers with no valid time are ranked below all those with one.
How it works
- Best result: climbers with at least one valid time are ranked "in ascending order of their best result".
- Same best time: compare their next best results, and repeat until the tie is broken or the results run out.
- Every race counts: the comparison considers "all races started in the event".
- The order of results: "Valid Time (ascending), Fall, False Start, Not Started".
- No valid time: ranked after everyone with a time, by the same comparison.
- Did not start: a climber who starts no race in the round is unranked and marked DNS.
- In the final: ranked by the last stage completed, with race winners ahead of race losers at that stage.
- Within a stage: by best results across the event.
- Thousandths: may be used to separate climbers during the competition.
The glossary has the speed event format, the official time, the false start, the fall, the invalid result mark and the bracket.
Tricky cases
Two climbers both have a best time of 5.21. One's other run was 5.40 and the other fell. Who is ahead?
The climber with 5.40. A valid time ranks above a fall.
A climber falls on one lane and false starts on the other. Are they ranked?
Yes, below every climber with a valid time. Their best result is the fall.
Two quarter-final losers: how are fifth to eighth places decided?
By comparing their best results across all the races they started in the event.
Does a fast time in the bracket change a climber's qualification ranking?
No. The qualification ranking is fixed when that round ends. Later runs count only when results are compared for the final ranking or to settle a tie.
Why the rule exists
Ranking on the single best run rewards the fastest climbing a person can do, which is the point of the discipline. The fixed order below it, time then fall then false start, treats a climber who tried and slipped as better than one who jumped the signal.
Where it differs
| Where | What changes | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Qualification | Best result, then next best | WC Event Regulations, Annex B 8.2 |
| Final round | Stage reached, then best results | WC Event Regulations, Annex B 8.3 |
| Ties for the last final place | Extra race or run, not a scoring attempt | WC Event Regulations, Annex B 2.4 |
| Boulder and lead | Count-back to the previous round | WC Event Regulations, Annex A 7.3; Annex C 7.1 |
From the rule book
World Climbing, Event Regulations (version 3, January 2026), Annex B sections 2, 7 and 8. Checked 14 October 2026. Official documents: World Climbing Competition Rules, January 2026 (PDF) and World Climbing Event Regulations, January 2026 (PDF).