CWA Blog Archive-The Beginner's Guide To Speed Climbing

The Beginner's Guide To Speed Climbing

Pdf Summary

Ashley Routson, a former competitive sprinter in swimming and track, brings that background to a fascinated primer on speed climbing, which she calls arguably the fastest race-based event between humans. The numbers justify the claim. The men's speed climbing world record stands at 4.74 seconds and the women's at 6.06 seconds, while the 100-meter track records are 9.58 and 10.49 seconds, meaning sprinters take nearly twice as long to finish their race. The article traces speed climbing's history, noting it isn't new. Climbers have raced each other for decades, especially on El Capitan, and The Nose in Yosemite became one of the most notable speed routes as being fastest, not just first to ascend, grew into its own competitive pursuit. What makes speed climbing an anomaly in indoor competition is its consistency. Bouldering and sport climbing use an onsight format on ever-changing routes that are never repeated, demanding adaptation to the unknown. Speed climbing is the opposite: extremely consistent and precise. The standardized speed wall has been identical since 2005, same handholds, same layout, everywhere in the world, so athletes train the same exact sequence endlessly in pursuit of perfection and raw quickness. The article is written for anyone in the industry curious about the history and application of speed climbing in gyms, and it ties into the CWA's 2024 Olympics coverage, where speed climbing drew new attention. The throughline is that speed climbing is a distinct discipline with its own logic, prizing repetition, precision, and explosive velocity over the problem-solving that defines other climbing formats, and that its standardized wall makes it uniquely comparable across athletes and, strikingly, faster than the world's premier foot races.

Asset Caption

Former sprinter Ashley Routson breaks down speed climbing, arguably the fastest human race event: world records of 4.74 and 6.06 seconds nearly halve the 100-meter dash. Unlike ever-changing boulder and sport formats, the speed wall has been identical worldwide since 2005, rewarding relentless repetition, precision, and explosive velocity.