Percy Bishton, IFSC Chief Routesetter and co-owner of the Climbing Works in Sheffield has been appointed as the Chief Routesetter for Bouldering at the Tokyo 2020 Games.

Bouldering will sit alongside Speed Climbing and Lead Climbing to form the Combined Discipline that will make its Olympic debut on the 4th to the 7th August 2020 in Tokyo. Bishton will head up an international team of routesetters to produce a range of boulders which will contain the most mentally and physically challenging moves for climbers across the whole competition.

Bishton’s career in routesetting began in 1994 and has set for over 50 international events. In 2019, Percy was on the routesetting team for the inaugural ANOC (Association of National Olympic Committees) World Beach Games in Doha, Qatar, which included Bouldering as one of 14 disciplines. 

Nathan Phillips representing Team GB at the World Beach Games in Doha. Photo: Dimitris Tosidis

Commenting on the announcement, Bishton said “Routesetting has taken me to amazing places all over the world and given me so many memorable experiences, so to add being a part of climbing’s debut at the Olympic Games is an enormous privilege.  Bouldering can provide moments of magic that few other sports can deliver, so I am looking forward to the athletes getting onto the boulders we set and showcasing this amazing sport to the world”.

Next up for Percy is to attend the Tokyo Olympic Test Event for Climbing in March before returning to Sheffield to help organise the Rab CWIF (Climbing Works International Festival) on the 14-15th March. The two-day competition is the standard curtain raiser for the IFSC Bouldering World Cup season where international athletes can sharpen up their skills for the upcoming season.

The Rab CWIF is a part of the Festival of the Outdoors organised by Sheffield City Council to celebrate Sheffield’s place as The Outdoor City. Percy will be taking part in a Q&A as a part of the Festival on Thursday 12th March at the Climbing Works reflecting upon his life in climbing, career in routesetting and thoughts on the upcoming Olympics. More information will be available shortly on The Climbing Works website.

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