After Boring Start, Team Japan Dominates the Men’s Boulder Semifinal

And we’re off! Hard finishes were the name of the game in today’s Men’s Bouldering Semifinals at the Paris Olympics, where team Japan dominated the field. The setters compressed the difficulty into the tops of each of the four boulders, which means that we routinely saw climbers establish on the 10-point zone holds, but we saw very few finishes. Topping just one boulder was enough to give the athletes a serious point advantage going into Wednesday’s Lead round.

Boulder 1

Competitors...