Like they tried it after the comp and it was impossible for a short person to officially start the climb (touch every limb on the holds to start). First off - there have been a few incidents in IFSC where shorter climbers couldn't even start the climb since it was too long for them. I think you aren't considering a few things about climbing as a sport and making your assumptions based on what you see. I just think some short climbers overstate the disadvantage without acknowledging the advantages that accompany being short! Lack of reach is a disadvantage that she has to overcome. Ai Mori clearly has some physiological attributes that help her. Stasa Gejo has commented before that her height makes certain moves so difficult for her because the climbs are often set for shorter climbers - but no one really talks about that. But to some extent their disadvantage must be an advantage or they wouldn’t be there on the World Cup stage. For the top climbers in the world, I don’t know, maybe being short will prevent them conquering certain climbs or make them much harder. Just like we don’t see teeny professional basketballers. If this were not the case they’d be weeded out by the World Cup stage. Strength to body weight ratio when executing powerful moves, as one example. ![]() That alone indicates it must convey some advantage. And yet, you cannot dispute that there are a disproportionate number of both recreational and professional climbers that are awesome and small, even tiny. But in the same way some moves are harder if you are lacking flexibility, or your fingers are larger, etc etc. I am not disputing that certain moves and routes become harder. As Remote-Ability points out, yes some moves are harder, especially if the setter was not considering height. I disagree that being shorter necessarily makes it harder and that short climbers just have to “be better” and “be stronger” as so many would say. With that said, gym setters obviously aren't as good & don't think as far ahead as World Cup setters, so in normal gyms, there might actually be a couple of climbs that are significantly harder for shorter people if the setters are tall. That shows us that it's all in the technique, strength and body tension. Honestly, my impression is that the whole "I can't reach the hold, this is impossible" is something that we as amateur climbers sometimes struggle with, but the pros? I've never seen anybody not able to do a move because of reach alone. Even guys like Alex Megos that don't seem short are well below the average height of their country. Being small has a lot of advantages in climbing (light, keeping the body close to the wall) and it's no coincidence that the vast majority of pro climbers (male and female) are below average height - with some exceptions of course, such as Adam Ondra. ![]() Yeah, I think the idea of being too small that some recreational climbers have can be very easily debunked after watching just a single IFSC event.
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