Paris Olympics Games are coming: the forty athletes who will compete for the Lead and Boulder combined medals and the twenty-eight Speed specialists have qualified, and now we are just waiting to enjoy the show! Which are the climbing shoes the Lead and Boulder climbers will compete with?
Credits to Nakajima Kazushige, Mia Krampl
But first: what are the characteristics of competition shoes?
Some models are used almost exclusively for a single discipline (Lead or Boulder), others are more versatile and it is not uncommon to see them in the finals of both disciplines.
As for bouldering, the shoes most used in competitions are generally very soft and sensitive, two characteristics necessary to smear efficiently, make super dynos, and run on large volumes. Here reactivity and freedom of movement are essential. Some shoes that help best to express the skills of the most advanced boulderers are La Sportiva Skwama and Theory, Tenaya Oasi, and Mad Rock Shark.
Athletes who often compete in Lead finals usually prefer models with excellent edging characteristics; in this case, a slightly stiffer model is often preferred to the softer ones, which gives support on the more vertical walls. Some of the climbing shoes we usually see in Lead finals are La Sportiva Solution Comp, SCARPA Instinct VSR, and Mad Rock Drone.
Finally, there are versatile and multipurpose models, which excel in the finals of both disciplines; not surprisingly, they often coincide with the shoes used by most athletes who get the best results in World Cup competitions. These include SCARPA Drago and Drago LV, Five Ten Hiangles, and Evolv Zenist.
But now let’s see some of the shoes that will compete to color up the Lead and Boulder podiums at the next Climbing Olympics!
Credits to Nakajima Kazushige, Anraku Sorato
Wild Climb Pantera Lacci - Laura Rogora
Recently Laura Rogora announced on Instagram the birth of a new model of Wild Climb climbing shoes designed specifically for high-level competitions. The idea was obviously born from Pantera, the shoes that accompanied Laura Rogora in all her most important competitions, including the Tokyo Olympics. Always maintaining the strong points of the Pantera, they worked on a greater softness of the sole and a part of the rubber that covers the front of the shoes, making them perfect for toe hooks. If Wild Climb Pantera were chosen by Laura Rogora for Lead routes and on the rock, the new shoes would then be more oriented towards the needs of boulderers. Wild Climb’s Artemis will be the shoes of the future, but now we await the Paris Olympics to see the Panthera climb as high as possible.
Laura Rogora, photo by Marco Iacono, Fasi Media Gallery
SCARPA Drago - Camilla Moroni
From the italian Lead specialist we switch to the Italian Boulder champion: Camilla Moroni! Faithful to his yellow and red SCARPA Drago, she has already taken them around the world in search of the best possible results in competitions. Drago are one of the most used shoes in Boulder and Lead competitions, both in the "standard" version and in the "low volume" black and white version. Precise and adherent they are unbeatable in toe and heel hooks and extremely responsive when it comes to pushing on large volumes typical of the new route setting style. They also are the secret weapon of Oriane Bertone, Mia Krampl, Lucia Dörffel and Sean McColl.
Credits to Marco Iacono, Fasi Media Gallery
Five Ten Hiangle Pro - Janja Garnbret
Speaking about competitions, we can not but mention the absolute protagonist of the women’s category, Janja Garnbret. Always high up with the 5.10 Hiangle Pro on his feet, she made these shoes a winning weapon, conquering with them any bouldering title possible. Together with her, and other athletes of Team 5.10 such as Natalia Grossman and Miho Nonaka, the American brand confirms a reference for high difficulty, still experiencing some difficulty to be appreciated by the audience of beginner-level climbers. In Tokyo 2020 Janja Garnbret had also used them to compete in Speed, ending also in this discipline with an excellent result that had opened the way to the podium. I wonder if they will leave us speechless, as they always do when Janja comes on stage, even in Paris.
Credits to Nakajima Kazushige, Janja Garnbret
La Sportiva Skwama - Sorato Anraku
As for La Sportiva, we always talk about the shoes of "pro athletes", such as Jakob Schubert, Adam Ondra, and Alberto Gines Lopez, winner of the Tokyo Olympics and qualified for the Paris Olympics. Usually, the shoes associated with them are the Theory or the Solution Comp, which we have already spoken about in our previous articles on "competition shoes", but there are athletes who, when it comes to their most important competitions, rely on the Skwama. Brooke Raboutou, Hamish McArthur, Chaehyun Seo, and Sorato Anraku, all qualified for Paris, chose the lightness and flexibility of the Skwama half-soles to quickly climb the routes and the boulder problems of the upcoming Olympics. The Skwama are born thinking of the new style of route setting that the athletes of the competitions must face almost daily between training and moments of competition: their flexibility allows you to move smoothly on volumes, ensuring good sensitivity and excellent grip.
Credits to Nakajima Kazushige, Sorato Anraku
UnParallel Flagship Pro - Tomoa Narasaki
The Japanese team is always a certainty, and within the Japanese team is even more so Tomoa Narasaki, unstoppable on boulders. Perhaps penalized by the previous Olympic formula with the combined ranking of the three disciplines, Narasaki can now compete for the podium with the other athletes who qualified for Paris. UnParallel are his trusted shoes: thanks to his many years of experience in the world of racing, Tomoa Narasaki also participates in the design of new models UnParallel. Together with him were in fact born the TN-Pro (which comes with his initials), synthesizing all the best of the characteristics that must have of the winning climbing shoes on boulders: flexibility, precision, and aggressiveness on small supports.
Credits to Nakajima Kazushige, Tomoa Narasaki
Tenaya Indalo - Alex Megos
The German team of Alex Megos, Lucia Dörffel, and Yannick Flohé managed to qualify for the Olympic Games in Paris during the June Olympic Qualifying Competition. If Yannick Flohé has chosen the UnParallel to be able to best express his bouldering skills from the highest level too, Alex Megos has always been an ambassador of Tenaya. Indalos are specifically very responsive and suitable for technical and precision climbing, like the one that comes into play in Lead competitions. For him, the Tokyo Olympics had been particularly unlucky, classifying himself as the first athlete out of the semifinals: a great bitterness that we hope will give him the power to be able to express himself better at the next appointment in Paris.
Credits to IFSC Media Gallery - Alex Megos
Evolv Zenist Pro - Colin Duffy
Colin Duffy had been a bit of a "surprise" at the Tokyo Olympics, being the youngest climber to qualify. Born in 2003, he took part in his first Olympics at just seventeen years old, ending up with a qualification for the Final. In these years he has done more and more competitions and conquered many podiums, gaining a solid experience that now leads him to be among the athletes "to keep an eye" in Paris. Colin Duffy focuses on Evolv Zenist Pro: aggressive, powerful, and perfect for the dynamic style of bouldering, they will certainly support the young American climber in his most challenging moments of the Olympics.
Credits to Nakajima Kazushige, Colin Duffy
We just have to wait for the start of the Climbing Olympics, which will take place from 5 to 10 August at the Le Bourget Sport Climbing Venue in Saint-Denis in Paris!
Cover image by Nakajima Kazushige @IFSC Climbing
