Climbing Moves We Might See in the Paris 2024 Olympics - and How to Do Them
Indoor climbing movement has evolved considerably over the last decade to become more dynamic and parcour-esque. Even in the three years since the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, some spectacular new moves have entered the World Cup circuit and trickled down to your local wall.
Whether you're a newcomer to the sport watching climbing for the first time in Paris or you're an old-school climber wondering how on earth people can coordinate their limbs and perform these showstopper tricks on the wall, here's a rundown of which moves might challenge athletes and go viral on social media this summer...
We spoke to GB Climbing's Louise Flockhart, a Boulder specialist who is particularly adept at these new-school moves, to share her hints and tips. These skills can be found in any complex combination, but we've tried to isolate the individual moves (the hardest part was coming up with names to describe some of them...) to help you channel your inner Janja Garnbret.
Do you know your run-and-jump-double-clutch from your lâché-paddle-palm-down-dyno?
Louise Flockhart's general tips for dynamic and coordination moves:
Your hips don't lie! In pretty much every dyno the position of your hips will be key.
Control the end of your dynamic movements: The energy you put into a dyno needs to be controlled by the end of the move. Try the 'scorpion' position to absorb energy, arching your spine (like Janja Garnbret) and bending your legs (and any free arms) behind you. This decelerates the swing and enables the climber to control the direction of their hips and limbs.
Swinging a limb can help generate more momentum: a full leg or arm swing from behind can help to generate extra momentum and lift your hips towards your target hold. The best competition climbers unleash their inner gibbon and mimic the moves of our closest ape ancestors.
Fully commit: It can be scary but you've got to fully go for it to make it work!
Practice makes perfect: Don't expect to go from a double clutch to a lâché-triple-paddle in a day. But with practice, dynos will become more intuitive and you will understand the movement better.
Double clutches
A double clutch is a dynamic move, or 'dyno' - a jump, essentially - where you leap and catch two holds at once (or one hold with two hands, which is more of a double dyno).
Louise says: 'It's a perfect dynamic move to start off with! Swing your hips down and then launch yourself towards the hold you are aiming for by pushing with your legs and pulling with your arms. Once you arrive at the hold you're aiming for, squeeze as hard as you can with your upper body and let any extra momentum swing out through your legs. The art of perfecting a double clutch is as much about timing as it is about power. For two holds, focus on the one you might catch first and keep the other in your peripheral vision - sometimes aiming for a point between two holds helps.'
Swing into a double clutch:
Double dyno:
Paddle Dyno
A paddle dyno is a sequence of dynamic moves where the climber briefly holds and 'bounces' off intermediate holds in order to reach a final destination hold. It is a step up from a double clutch as you need to use the intermediate holds to allow you to travel further than you would be able to jump in one movement.
Louise says: 'Generate momentum in the same way as a double clutch, then think about launching towards the final hold in the sequence and using the intermediates as a boost rather than a destination. I find it best to stare down the furthest away hold and find the ones along the way using my peripheral vision.'
Pendulum swings/lâchés
From the French verb lâcher meaning 'to let go', a lâché (lashay) involves a full-body swing before releasing your hands and landing your feet on a hold or volume. These moves are often used in combination with another jump up to a next hold or a paddle sequence.
Louise says: 'The hardest part about a lâché is generating the swing whilst dangling off your arms. If we take it right back to basics: imagine being on a swing. To make it move, you've got to correctly time leaning forwards and backwards and extending and bending your legs. This is exactly the same when creating the momentum for a laché. Once you've nailed the swing, the next step is perfecting the timing of releasing the hand hold. Too early or late and you won't have the height to create the distance to reach the foot. After landing on the foot, bring your hips back in close to the wall and focus on balancing or jumping towards the next handhold. I find it useful to visualise the route that my hips will follow from the start to the finish of the move.'
Lâché into double clutch:
Run and jumps
A parcour classic. Does what it says on the tin (unless you run into the wall and forget the jump part).
See also: run and jumps up or along volumes.
Louise says: 'One of the more intimidating types of dyno as the consequence of it going wrong could be a face plant into the wall (trust me, I've done it many a time). The actual movement is not too complex. Run, push off the wall or volume with your foot, and jump to reach a handhold. For this reason, the biggest bit of advice I can give is to have confidence and fully go for it! Again, keep your hips into the wall and trust your feet.'
Run and jump across a volume into a double clutch:
Palm-down dyno
We weren't sure what to call this, but it's cropping up on the circuit more and more regularly. It's a dynamic press/mantle sort of move and can be done with your hand(s) palm-down and fingers pointing left, right or out from the wall. Your body then shifts around this static point as your arm holds the weight under tension. These can often be used in combination with an oppositional shoulder move into a volume (a press down and a press/push upwards or outwards simultaneously).
Louise says: 'In most dynos you pull with your arms to generate momentum, but in a palm down dyno it is the opposite. Palm down on the handhold and whilst keeping your arm straight, sink down into your legs and then rapidly launch back up, pivoting your hips around the hold. Focus on keeping your hips in close to the wall and getting enough height from the initial jump.'
Toe catch
Perfecting a toe catch is a very satisfying feeling. This move enables you to latch a hold in a position dynamically where you'd otherwise be unstable or have to switch feet quickly. It's all about the timing and precision. Once you've got the move, can you release it?
Louise says: 'Before trying a dynamic toe catch, make sure you know how to toe hook: Use the top of your toes and front part of your foot to pull against a hold and create tension. It might help to think about pointing your toes towards your knees. The difficulty of a toe catch dyno comes from hitting the hand and foot at the same time. Before you jump, swing your leg up to the height of the hold you will catch with your toe (or as close as possible). When you jump, your leg should remember the height it needs to be at, and you can focus on grabbing the hand.'
360-degree spin
This was showcased for the first time in the IFSC Boulder World Cup in Innsbruck in 2023 and even made its way up high on the wall in the Lead World Cup in Villars later in the season. A crowd-pleasing move...could the setters have one or two of these up their sleeve to hype the spectators in Paris?
Tips: these moves will likely be tricky to find in commercial walls, but you might be able to make up your own in an unforced situation (where there are more obvious easier methods, but you make life difficult for yourself...a common feature in climbing). To force the move, setters have used a blocked foothold - to make it difficult to swap feet - with a poor undercut handhold to prevent matching and encourage the climber to rotate around 180 degrees, face the crowd and step your other foot across before performing another 180 turn to face back into the wall. We don't really have any tips here...other than smile and wave as you spin! Hips in as ever...and perhaps train your thumb strength for undercuts...
Handstands/cartwheels
We saw these in the CWIF final and we hope - for the athletes' sake - that the route setter don't unleash this level of cruelty in Paris - but it could be entertaining to watch. This sequence forces a climber to start with their hands on a low hold with their feet up higher, before rotating or crab-walking between hand and footholds.
Louise says: 'Practising handstands on the floor or against a wall can help you to work your way up to this one. On the wall, think about tucking in your hips, the angle of your wrists on the holds, and moving slowly so you don't lose balance. Having good shoulder mobility will help a lot with these, so if you're struggling, give your lats a good stretch out!'
Speed tricks
Although the Speed route is standardised and stays the same between competitions, athletes have invented new sequences that shave time off their runs.
In the Speed event, you might see some athletes performing a very dynamic move low down on the route and skipping a hold (bypassing the fourth handhold out left).
Here's a video of Louise learning the Tomoa Skip:
Watch out too for the Vaichekowski method (skipping hold number 5) and the Chinese Top method where climbers stay on the left side of the finish holds, creating a direct line to the buzzer.