A Competitor and Parent Guide to the

2023-24 USA Climbing Youth Speed Qualification Series

Overview

The Speed discipline for the B, A and Junior categories involves competitors climbing a standardized route of specialized holds while harnessed into an auto-belay system, striving to reach the top of the route as fast as they can. The length of the route is either 10 or 15 meters tall. For the C Category, the Speed routes do not have the same nationally standardized route requirements in terms of the type of holds, their placement, or the length of the route. USA Climbing maintains an unofficial list of commercial gyms with Speed walls.  

All Speed competitors are timed from the moment of the computerized starting “beep” until the moment that they touch the finishing pad at the top of the route. If a climber false starts or falls before reaching the finish pad, they do not receive a time for that attempt. More details on the rules for the Speed discipline can be found in sections 9 and 12 of the USA Climbing Rulebook.

The Youth Speed Qualification Series operates differently from Boulder and Lead/Top Rope in a number of ways.

• Qualification Speed Trials (QSTs) are the equivalent of Qualification Events (QEs) in Boulder and Lead/Top Rope. QSTs are held at facilities that have the walls, holds, belay systems, and timing systems necessary to comply with USA Climbing’s certification standards.  
• QSTs can be held from October 14 to June 16, so there may be QSTs that take place after the completion of the Boulder or Lead/Top Rope QEs.  In addition, an athlete may compete at and achieve a qualifying time at any QST in the country; it does not need to be located in their home Region or Division.  You can find dates and locations of QSTs at https://usaclimbing.sport80.com/public/events or by viewing the All-Region QST Calendar.  
• Official qualifying times recorded at any National level Speed event (e.g., Elite National Championship, National Team Trials, North America Cup Series, and Collegiate National Championship) will also be considered for Youth Speed National Championship eligibility (Rulebook Section 12.11.3).  
• Most Speed QSTs will only be open to athletes in the B, A and Junior Categories. Some will include an opportunity for C Category athletes to compete. There are no USAC-sanctioned Speed competitions for D Category athletes.
• The goals for those competing at QSTs are to practice and improve their Speed climbing skills in a competition environment and - for B, A, and Junior athletes - to achieve a qualifying time that meets or beats the national benchmark time established by USA Climbing for their age/gender Category. Those benchmark times are listed later in this document.  
• Eligibility for B, A and Junior athletes to compete in the Speed discipline at the Youth National Championship is based on whether they achieve the relevant benchmark time on at least one of their runs at a QST or National-level Speed event. Their rank order finish at the event does not impact their eligibility.  For example, an athlete could hypothetically finish first in their Category at a QST but not achieve the benchmark time (and therefore not earn eligibility for Nationals), OR alternatively an athlete could finish last at a QST and successfully achieve the benchmark time and become eligible for Nationals.
• All C Category athletes with an active Competitor membership are eligible to compete in Speed at the Youth National Championship - regardless of whether or not they competed in a QST during the year.

Competition Format

At a minimum, a QST consists of a single Qualification Round, which provides each competitor with two runs (a QST may also have more than one Qualification Round). In addition, a QST may include an optional knockout-format Final Round of four or eight competitors - assuming that there are at least four competitors in that Category. A practice round is also optional, and times recorded during a practice round may be used to achieve Nationals eligibility.  

Qualification Round

For the Qualification Round, all registered competitors within a Category are put into a randomized Start List. Half of the athletes will start on Lane A and the other half will start on Lane B.  For their second run, they will climb on the other lane. Note: climbers are given a minimum of five minutes rest between their two runs.  

Here is a hypothetical Start List for a six-person Qualification Round:

Most QSTs are run using an automated timing system that has a series of audible tones to start the climbers, monitors for false starts, and then records the climbers’ time when they touch the finish pad. In cases where a gym does not have an automated timing system, a QST may use volunteers to record times with manually operated stopwatches, with at least two timers per lane and the average of the times calculated as the recorded time.

In the event that a climber false starts, they do not get to re-run that race. However, any valid times recorded in previous races will still count towards Nationals eligibility, and the climber may still compete in subsequent races at the QST (i.e., they can still compete in the Final Round if their time in the other Qualification run is fast enough).

Final Round

If the QST includes an optional knockout-format Final Round and there are at least two competitors in an individual Category, the knockout round is organized as follows:

• All competitors are ranked in their Category from fastest to slowest based on the best time of their two Qualification runs, regardless of whether those times meet the Nationals benchmark time.
• The Final Round will consist of either the fastest two, four or eight competitors, depending on the number of competitors in the Category with a valid time from the Qualification round.  
• The two, four or eight competitors are then matched up in a standard single elimination bracket, run as a series of head-to-head races, with the fastest climber from the Qualification Round paired with the slowest climber, etc., and the winner of each race advances to the next stage. See the brackets below for how the 4- and 8-competitor formats for a Final Round work.
• Any valid time recorded during a Final Round may also be used to achieve eligibility for Nationals.

Benchmark Times for 2024 Youth National Championships

A Junior, Youth A, or Youth B competitor with at least one time at a Qualification Speed Trial, National-level or International-level Speed event listed in Rulebook Section 12.11.3 that meets or is faster than their Category’s Qualification Speed Benchmark time for the Speed wall height where they achieved that time shall be awarded Speed Youth National Championship (YNCH) eligibility. See 2024 Youth Speed Benchmark Times for details.

Note:  For times recorded at a QST using manual timing devices, YNCH eligibility is awarded if the time recorded is within one fifth of a second (0.2 seconds) of, or faster than, the Benchmark time.

QST results will be posted at USACResults.org. USA Climbing maintains an updated list of Junior, Youth A, or Youth B athletes who have qualified to compete in Speed at the 2024 Youth National Championships.  

We look forward to seeing you at an upcoming QST!