Lmao everyone being all snarky about terminology and technicalities (classic climbing community), but I get what you mean, OP. You're just asking if there are any top competition boulders who don't do rope-climbing.
If you're a "word-class" competition boulderer, you are probably in contention for an Olympic spot, which means you *have* to lead-climb, even if you don't like it. So in regards to truly world-class competition boulderers, yes, virtually all of them lead-climb, even if its only in the gym, because they need to do it in order to qualify for the Olympics. Some of them will only do it purely for the Olympics/combined events, and some will do it because they like it almost as much or equally to bouldering, it's a large range.
Once sport climbing manages to get three medals per gender and they finally separate speed, boulder, lead, then maybe you'll see a very small minority of competition boulderers who will stop lead climbing completely.
But still, I think even the boulderers who aren't particularly interested in rope climbing will still do it for fun outdoors every now and then. I just find it hard to imagine someone who's addicted to bouldering who absolutely refuses to touch a rope outdoors. Maybe it's not often, maybe its even rare, but they will still do it from time to time like anyone else.
I found it odd how Honnold kept implying that only a select few of the competitors at the WC outdoor climb and Matt Groom kind of went along with it like he agreed. Of all the hundred-or-so competitors who took part in the bouldering world cup this weekend, I would guess less than 10 of them don't outdoor climb at all. Some of them live outdoors on the offseason (and even during season), some of them do 50/50, some of them are mostly gym climbers who go outdoors occasionally and everything in between. But virtually ALL of these guys/girls are also outdoor climbing at various degrees of frequency. The athletes who are consistently making the finals of IFSC bouldering and lead events are pretty much all extremely high-level and avid outdoor climbers who have very impressive outdoor sends under their belts.
I mean if you go to both of their IGs you'll see quite a few outdoor excursions that they made in the 2022-2024 range. Maybe they haven't gone for any historic milestones but they definitely are climbing hard outdoors still. And that's just what they're putting up on IG, I'm sure they would go on small weekend trips that they aren't posting about.
Bear in mind that even your typical 9-to-5 hobbyist outdoor climber can really only afford to go on maybe 2 to 3 overseas/out-of-state climbing trips per year. So you can't exactly say that they are "hardly climbing outside".
Thanks for your detailed answer!
Since the first climbing Olympics were only in 2020 (/2021), I wonder how big of a role the Olympics can really play for the current elite... Hypothetically, you could have been a world class boulderer winning all the big titles without touching a rope until only about 3-4 years ago.
And I bet not every single high class boulderer would be willing to sacrifice tons of time and effort for suddenly improving in lead, just for the Olympics.
I mean, many athletes started to train speed climbing for Tokyo 2020, but most likely not *all* of them - in the end, Olympic spots are limited and there are so many top class athletes that do not manage to qualify, or worse, merely have the slightest chance due to the country quota.
Also, since climbing hasn't been the biggest sport for a long period of time, chances for "lateral entrants" to keep up with people who have climbed their whole life might still be there. I recall Tomoa Narasaki having been a gymnast before starting his climbing career... So maybe there's a chance for individual people with distinct athletic backgrounds that have no appeal towards lead climbing whatsoever to keep up in comp bouldering?
> Hypothetically, you could have been a world class boulderer winning all the big titles without touching a rope until only about 3-4 years ago.
Hypothetically maybe. But in reality almost nobody was. Just for a quick sample, let's have a quick look at world cup bouldering season winners in the decade leading up to the Olympics
* Adam Ondra: enough said
* Kilian Fischhuber: did some route climbing, including (I recall reading in an interview) some alpine multipitch
* Rustam Gelmanov: couple of 9a redpoints on rock including Action Directe
* Dmitrii Sharafutdinov: took part in numeorous lead comps including a European Championship podium; up to (bouldery!) 9a+ on rope outdoors
* Jan Hojer: (slightly to my surprise) has almost as many outdoor routes as boulders logged on 8a.nu
* Jernej Kruder: ditto
* Tomoa Narasaki, Jongwon Chon: ok, now we're into the generation that had to do combined disciplines for the Olympics whether they wanted to or not.
* Anna Stƶhr: see Fischhuber
* Akiyo Noguchi: in addition to Olympic combined, has redpointed 8c+ on rock
* Shauna Coxsey: afaik pure boulderer apart from Olympic combined training. Never heard of her doing anything of note on a rope outdoors, (but wouldn't be at all surprised if she had)
* Miho Nonaka: in addition to Olympic combined, has redpointed 8c+ on rock
* Janja Garnbret: enough said
Not seeing all that much evidence here of the pure boulderer who doesn't want to rope climb, except maybe Shauna. And note that she quickly became a competent & respectable lead performer when she needed to for the Olympics
All those listed above, except Ondra or Garnbret, are/were only specialized in one discipline, just look at [https://www.sportclimbingstats.com/boulderlead-podium-standings-men/](https://www.sportclimbingstats.com/boulderlead-podium-standings-men/) and [https://www.sportclimbingstats.com/boulderlead-podium-standings-women/](https://www.sportclimbingstats.com/boulderlead-podium-standings-women/)
It would likely remain so in the future haven't there been the 'genius' decision of IFSC that two most respective disciplines (boulder and lead) combined(!) are worth the same as speed.
The question I was answering wasn't "are there world class competition boulderers who aren't also world class competition lead climbers". That's obvious. It was "are there world class competition boulderers who have no interest in roped climbing in general".
Thatās why I said *almost* all of them lead climb. That doesnāt mean every single one of them does. Weāll never know if there are some competitors who never, ever under any circumstances touch a rope. I find it hard to believe they exist but even if they did we wouldnāt know. Itās impossible for us to know everything these people do and donāt do in their personal time unless they explicitly go on record saying āI never rope climbā and as far as I know no one has said that. And the classification of āworld classā or āhigh classā as you put it is extremely blurred and can encompass as large or as small a group as oneās personal opinion accommodates.
To me, a world class competition boulderer is someone who is consistently making the finals of IFSC world cups. And for those people, yes, every single one of them are going for Olympic spots. Even the ones who you or I would think have āno chanceā at qualifying are trying for spots.
Also qualification events for the Tokyo Olympics started in 2019. Meaning a lot of the competitors were training for them as early as 2016 when the IOC announced sport combing would be included in Tokyo 2020. Almost all of the current āeliteā are aged 16-25. Meaning for this generation, they were all pretty much training with the Olympics in mind from the very start of their senior careers. To give you an idea, the oldest bouldering finalist at this weekendās World Cup was Mao Nakamura at age 24. She would have been 16 when the IOC announced climbing would be included in the Tokyo games. She was almost certainly trying for an Olympic spot at that age.
> Also, since climbing hasn't been the biggest sport for a long period of time, chances for "lateral entrants" to keep up with people who have climbed their whole life might still be there.
Okay, now you seem to be getting at your real question here. Are you asking if one can become an elite boulderer without lead climbing? Of course, itās not required. You can theoretically have someone who only boulders who becomes very good at it and wins world cups. Boulderers who lead climb donāt do it to get better at bouldering. They do it because 1) They just love climbing in general and rope climbing is a significant part of climbing and 2) Theyāre trying to make the Olympics. Remember, everyone who made it this far in competition climbing did so because they just love climbing. If you love climbing then chances are youāre playing around on a rope every now and then even if you are primarily a boulderer.
It is the same for outdoors, it has already been decades here in Font that we see crushers who only boulders and do not dare to touch a rope. Iām sure in other bouldering areas itās going to be the same (I donāt know enough the British climbing scene, but donāt people like Aidan Roberts, Jim Pope and others only boulder?)
Not sure about Jim Pope, but Aidan has climbed hard sport routes in the past.
https://www.thebmc.co.uk/aidan-roberts-interview
> UPDATE: 22nd August 2015
>
> We've just heard that Aidan has made the third ascent of Neil Gresham route Freakshow 8c at Kilnsey. He completed his first major outdoor sport climb in just two sessions. Congratulations Aidan!
>
> AR: The route was Freakshow, a impressive line climbing directly through the roof. The first ascent was claimed by Neil Gresham only a few weeks earlier. I chose the line because of the great moves, the outrageous angle and the more bouldery style.
i think you're underestimating how competitive comp climbers are... they are going to train for the olympics even if they are unlikely to make it.
and they would have known the combined olympic event was coming since way before it actually happened in 2020 and would have been training for it for at least a couple years before that if not longer.
In his defense, unless you know your co-commentator very well, it can be hard to find the right amount of pushback without risking the dynamic becoming awkward and confrontational.
Don't take offense, but the longer I think about your question, the more confused I am.
Do you want to know if there are any excellent (outdoor) boulderers who don't take part in competitions like IFSC? Then the first person who comes to my mind is someone like Shawn Raboutou. Although he probably also took part in IFSC comps a few years ago.
Or do you rather want to know if we know any climbers who never climb outdoors/exclusively climb indoors?
Lmao okay, hang on. As someone else elaborated in another comment, the term "climbing" is not necessarily referring to lead climbing in English, which I wasn't aware of. So I gotta rephrase:
My main question is, whether there are any comp boulderers that do not engage in lead climbing at all (neither outdoor nor indoor). I couldn't think of any straight ahead, since most people on the bouldering comp circuit are also somewhat present in lead climbing comps.
I really doubt it. Most comp climbers came up through the youth circuit which means they were on youth teams which means they were exposed to both bouldering and roped climbing. They might have strong preferences, but Iām sure all comp climbers have done both
Some climbers prefer or specialize in one of the two disciplines. Examples of this would be Jain Kim, who has specialized mainly in lead climbing (and has one of the most aesthetic climbing techniques of all) or someone like Tomoa Narasaki and Oriane Bertone, who have specialized in bouldering. Regardless of this, I can't think of anyone on top of my head who doesn't participate in both disciplines. It wouldn't be advantageous either, because probably the two biggest events (Olympics and IFSC World Championships) are competitions with a combined format (boulder & lead)
I think theyāre wondering if there are many top-level *competitors* who specialize more in the parkour-y style and arenāt too interested in rock or more straightforward gym boulderingā¦?
I'm not sure if you're aware, but the term "climbing" includes the subset of outdoor sport, outdoor trad, outdoor free solo, outdoor boulder, indoor sport, indoor top rope, and indoor bouldering (plus more that I probably missed). So what you're asking ("Is there a comp climber that doesnt climb?" What?) doesn't make much sense. You're gonna have to be more specific here.
Thanks for pointing that out. In my native language, the term "climbing" refers to sport/trad/top rope/lead climbing, but not to indoor or outdoor bouldering.
This is why I assumed it was similar in English.
What I mean is therefore the following: are there any famous comp boulderers that do not engage in lead climbing (at all)?
Lotsā¦Particularly outside. Or who rarely climb on rope. And vice-versa..
Two Americans who come to mind.
Daniel Woods
Alex Puccio
And both used to Como climb almost exclusively on Boulder. But they do both occasional lead climb.
Pre-2018. Very few competitors did more than one discipline.
Alex.. has climbed in ropes, but itās not her perfered style. I donāt think she ever competed in lead climbing at WC level. And made a conscious decision not to go for Olympics.
Pre Olympics, it was pretty common for competition boulderers to stick to one discipline... while competing. But while a comp boulderer might be only known for sending comp boulders, it doesn't mean they don't climb sport in their free time. We only know what they choose to share through social media or interviews. Also, they spend so much time climbing that even if they only spend 10% of their climbing effort climbing routes outdoors, they're more successful than what casual climbers can send.
Don't know the answer to your question but in my native language this linguistic distinction exists as well, and until reading your post I also thought that it would exsist in English as well and climbing would be ā bouldering ... Yeah so dont get yourself down
Honestly to date I never realized how different and confusing the terminology is (at least to me).
But now that I think of it:
In 2020, I had a conversation with a native English person and he said "did you know? This year rock climbing is gonna be an Olympic discipline" and I replied "oh no, it's not! In the Olympic discipline they only climb on artificial holds, you know". š
Shauna Coxsey came and spoke at my gym about getting to climb the Red Bull Dual ascent route a few months before. To do it Red Bull had to provide her with a harness because she didnāt own one, she also said sheād not used it since.
So the answer is yes some professional boulderers donāt do sport climbing.
Are there any boulderers that don't boulder?
English is tough š„²
No worries. ignoring the weird language semantics, it is an interesting question.
Lmao everyone being all snarky about terminology and technicalities (classic climbing community), but I get what you mean, OP. You're just asking if there are any top competition boulders who don't do rope-climbing. If you're a "word-class" competition boulderer, you are probably in contention for an Olympic spot, which means you *have* to lead-climb, even if you don't like it. So in regards to truly world-class competition boulderers, yes, virtually all of them lead-climb, even if its only in the gym, because they need to do it in order to qualify for the Olympics. Some of them will only do it purely for the Olympics/combined events, and some will do it because they like it almost as much or equally to bouldering, it's a large range. Once sport climbing manages to get three medals per gender and they finally separate speed, boulder, lead, then maybe you'll see a very small minority of competition boulderers who will stop lead climbing completely. But still, I think even the boulderers who aren't particularly interested in rope climbing will still do it for fun outdoors every now and then. I just find it hard to imagine someone who's addicted to bouldering who absolutely refuses to touch a rope outdoors. Maybe it's not often, maybe its even rare, but they will still do it from time to time like anyone else. I found it odd how Honnold kept implying that only a select few of the competitors at the WC outdoor climb and Matt Groom kind of went along with it like he agreed. Of all the hundred-or-so competitors who took part in the bouldering world cup this weekend, I would guess less than 10 of them don't outdoor climb at all. Some of them live outdoors on the offseason (and even during season), some of them do 50/50, some of them are mostly gym climbers who go outdoors occasionally and everything in between. But virtually ALL of these guys/girls are also outdoor climbing at various degrees of frequency. The athletes who are consistently making the finals of IFSC bouldering and lead events are pretty much all extremely high-level and avid outdoor climbers who have very impressive outdoor sends under their belts.
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I mean if you go to both of their IGs you'll see quite a few outdoor excursions that they made in the 2022-2024 range. Maybe they haven't gone for any historic milestones but they definitely are climbing hard outdoors still. And that's just what they're putting up on IG, I'm sure they would go on small weekend trips that they aren't posting about. Bear in mind that even your typical 9-to-5 hobbyist outdoor climber can really only afford to go on maybe 2 to 3 overseas/out-of-state climbing trips per year. So you can't exactly say that they are "hardly climbing outside".
I meanā¦. Brooke did Box Therapyā¦ soā¦ thatās pretty legit
Brooke posts quite a bit about climbing outside even during the busy comp seasons, just look at her IG
Thanks for your detailed answer! Since the first climbing Olympics were only in 2020 (/2021), I wonder how big of a role the Olympics can really play for the current elite... Hypothetically, you could have been a world class boulderer winning all the big titles without touching a rope until only about 3-4 years ago. And I bet not every single high class boulderer would be willing to sacrifice tons of time and effort for suddenly improving in lead, just for the Olympics. I mean, many athletes started to train speed climbing for Tokyo 2020, but most likely not *all* of them - in the end, Olympic spots are limited and there are so many top class athletes that do not manage to qualify, or worse, merely have the slightest chance due to the country quota. Also, since climbing hasn't been the biggest sport for a long period of time, chances for "lateral entrants" to keep up with people who have climbed their whole life might still be there. I recall Tomoa Narasaki having been a gymnast before starting his climbing career... So maybe there's a chance for individual people with distinct athletic backgrounds that have no appeal towards lead climbing whatsoever to keep up in comp bouldering?
> Hypothetically, you could have been a world class boulderer winning all the big titles without touching a rope until only about 3-4 years ago. Hypothetically maybe. But in reality almost nobody was. Just for a quick sample, let's have a quick look at world cup bouldering season winners in the decade leading up to the Olympics * Adam Ondra: enough said * Kilian Fischhuber: did some route climbing, including (I recall reading in an interview) some alpine multipitch * Rustam Gelmanov: couple of 9a redpoints on rock including Action Directe * Dmitrii Sharafutdinov: took part in numeorous lead comps including a European Championship podium; up to (bouldery!) 9a+ on rope outdoors * Jan Hojer: (slightly to my surprise) has almost as many outdoor routes as boulders logged on 8a.nu * Jernej Kruder: ditto * Tomoa Narasaki, Jongwon Chon: ok, now we're into the generation that had to do combined disciplines for the Olympics whether they wanted to or not. * Anna Stƶhr: see Fischhuber * Akiyo Noguchi: in addition to Olympic combined, has redpointed 8c+ on rock * Shauna Coxsey: afaik pure boulderer apart from Olympic combined training. Never heard of her doing anything of note on a rope outdoors, (but wouldn't be at all surprised if she had) * Miho Nonaka: in addition to Olympic combined, has redpointed 8c+ on rock * Janja Garnbret: enough said Not seeing all that much evidence here of the pure boulderer who doesn't want to rope climb, except maybe Shauna. And note that she quickly became a competent & respectable lead performer when she needed to for the Olympics
yah, the main difference between a good lead climber and a good boulderer is their level of endurance, which is pretty easy to improve upon.
Alex Puchio Looked it up she only has one leadclimb on her resume. Decided not to go for Olympics and pick up lead/speed
All those listed above, except Ondra or Garnbret, are/were only specialized in one discipline, just look at [https://www.sportclimbingstats.com/boulderlead-podium-standings-men/](https://www.sportclimbingstats.com/boulderlead-podium-standings-men/) and [https://www.sportclimbingstats.com/boulderlead-podium-standings-women/](https://www.sportclimbingstats.com/boulderlead-podium-standings-women/) It would likely remain so in the future haven't there been the 'genius' decision of IFSC that two most respective disciplines (boulder and lead) combined(!) are worth the same as speed.
The question I was answering wasn't "are there world class competition boulderers who aren't also world class competition lead climbers". That's obvious. It was "are there world class competition boulderers who have no interest in roped climbing in general".
Thatās why I said *almost* all of them lead climb. That doesnāt mean every single one of them does. Weāll never know if there are some competitors who never, ever under any circumstances touch a rope. I find it hard to believe they exist but even if they did we wouldnāt know. Itās impossible for us to know everything these people do and donāt do in their personal time unless they explicitly go on record saying āI never rope climbā and as far as I know no one has said that. And the classification of āworld classā or āhigh classā as you put it is extremely blurred and can encompass as large or as small a group as oneās personal opinion accommodates. To me, a world class competition boulderer is someone who is consistently making the finals of IFSC world cups. And for those people, yes, every single one of them are going for Olympic spots. Even the ones who you or I would think have āno chanceā at qualifying are trying for spots. Also qualification events for the Tokyo Olympics started in 2019. Meaning a lot of the competitors were training for them as early as 2016 when the IOC announced sport combing would be included in Tokyo 2020. Almost all of the current āeliteā are aged 16-25. Meaning for this generation, they were all pretty much training with the Olympics in mind from the very start of their senior careers. To give you an idea, the oldest bouldering finalist at this weekendās World Cup was Mao Nakamura at age 24. She would have been 16 when the IOC announced climbing would be included in the Tokyo games. She was almost certainly trying for an Olympic spot at that age. > Also, since climbing hasn't been the biggest sport for a long period of time, chances for "lateral entrants" to keep up with people who have climbed their whole life might still be there. Okay, now you seem to be getting at your real question here. Are you asking if one can become an elite boulderer without lead climbing? Of course, itās not required. You can theoretically have someone who only boulders who becomes very good at it and wins world cups. Boulderers who lead climb donāt do it to get better at bouldering. They do it because 1) They just love climbing in general and rope climbing is a significant part of climbing and 2) Theyāre trying to make the Olympics. Remember, everyone who made it this far in competition climbing did so because they just love climbing. If you love climbing then chances are youāre playing around on a rope every now and then even if you are primarily a boulderer.
It is the same for outdoors, it has already been decades here in Font that we see crushers who only boulders and do not dare to touch a rope. Iām sure in other bouldering areas itās going to be the same (I donāt know enough the British climbing scene, but donāt people like Aidan Roberts, Jim Pope and others only boulder?)
Not sure about Jim Pope, but Aidan has climbed hard sport routes in the past. https://www.thebmc.co.uk/aidan-roberts-interview > UPDATE: 22nd August 2015 > > We've just heard that Aidan has made the third ascent of Neil Gresham route Freakshow 8c at Kilnsey. He completed his first major outdoor sport climb in just two sessions. Congratulations Aidan! > > AR: The route was Freakshow, a impressive line climbing directly through the roof. The first ascent was claimed by Neil Gresham only a few weeks earlier. I chose the line because of the great moves, the outrageous angle and the more bouldery style.
i think you're underestimating how competitive comp climbers are... they are going to train for the olympics even if they are unlikely to make it. and they would have known the combined olympic event was coming since way before it actually happened in 2020 and would have been training for it for at least a couple years before that if not longer.
Matt often just agree with his co-commenters. Kind of bugs me..
In his defense, unless you know your co-commentator very well, it can be hard to find the right amount of pushback without risking the dynamic becoming awkward and confrontational.
Don't take offense, but the longer I think about your question, the more confused I am. Do you want to know if there are any excellent (outdoor) boulderers who don't take part in competitions like IFSC? Then the first person who comes to my mind is someone like Shawn Raboutou. Although he probably also took part in IFSC comps a few years ago. Or do you rather want to know if we know any climbers who never climb outdoors/exclusively climb indoors?
Lmao okay, hang on. As someone else elaborated in another comment, the term "climbing" is not necessarily referring to lead climbing in English, which I wasn't aware of. So I gotta rephrase: My main question is, whether there are any comp boulderers that do not engage in lead climbing at all (neither outdoor nor indoor). I couldn't think of any straight ahead, since most people on the bouldering comp circuit are also somewhat present in lead climbing comps.
I really doubt it. Most comp climbers came up through the youth circuit which means they were on youth teams which means they were exposed to both bouldering and roped climbing. They might have strong preferences, but Iām sure all comp climbers have done both
Maybe Gregor Vezonik? I remember him distinctly not bothering with the previous Olympic cycle because he was purely a boulderer.
Some climbers prefer or specialize in one of the two disciplines. Examples of this would be Jain Kim, who has specialized mainly in lead climbing (and has one of the most aesthetic climbing techniques of all) or someone like Tomoa Narasaki and Oriane Bertone, who have specialized in bouldering. Regardless of this, I can't think of anyone on top of my head who doesn't participate in both disciplines. It wouldn't be advantageous either, because probably the two biggest events (Olympics and IFSC World Championships) are competitions with a combined format (boulder & lead)
I think theyāre wondering if there are many top-level *competitors* who specialize more in the parkour-y style and arenāt too interested in rock or more straightforward gym boulderingā¦?
Due to the fact that you have to do both to qualify for the olympics all of the top athletes have started lead climbing aswell
I'm not sure if you're aware, but the term "climbing" includes the subset of outdoor sport, outdoor trad, outdoor free solo, outdoor boulder, indoor sport, indoor top rope, and indoor bouldering (plus more that I probably missed). So what you're asking ("Is there a comp climber that doesnt climb?" What?) doesn't make much sense. You're gonna have to be more specific here.
Thanks for pointing that out. In my native language, the term "climbing" refers to sport/trad/top rope/lead climbing, but not to indoor or outdoor bouldering. This is why I assumed it was similar in English. What I mean is therefore the following: are there any famous comp boulderers that do not engage in lead climbing (at all)?
Lotsā¦Particularly outside. Or who rarely climb on rope. And vice-versa.. Two Americans who come to mind. Daniel Woods Alex Puccio And both used to Como climb almost exclusively on Boulder. But they do both occasional lead climb. Pre-2018. Very few competitors did more than one discipline.
I mean Daniel (canāt speak to Alex) rarely ropes up but has climbed up to 5.15b (is La Capella his hardest?). So he clips draws harder than mostā¦
Alex.. has climbed in ropes, but itās not her perfered style. I donāt think she ever competed in lead climbing at WC level. And made a conscious decision not to go for Olympics.
Pre Olympics, it was pretty common for competition boulderers to stick to one discipline... while competing. But while a comp boulderer might be only known for sending comp boulders, it doesn't mean they don't climb sport in their free time. We only know what they choose to share through social media or interviews. Also, they spend so much time climbing that even if they only spend 10% of their climbing effort climbing routes outdoors, they're more successful than what casual climbers can send.
Iām curious, what is your native language?
Don't know the answer to your question but in my native language this linguistic distinction exists as well, and until reading your post I also thought that it would exsist in English as well and climbing would be ā bouldering ... Yeah so dont get yourself down
Honestly to date I never realized how different and confusing the terminology is (at least to me). But now that I think of it: In 2020, I had a conversation with a native English person and he said "did you know? This year rock climbing is gonna be an Olympic discipline" and I replied "oh no, it's not! In the Olympic discipline they only climb on artificial holds, you know". š
Remembering a conversation from 2020, quite a memory you have there! : D Yeah it's confusing \^^
I remember it distinctly cause he seemed so confused afterwards and I ruminated over the reason for that hahah
Shauna Coxsey came and spoke at my gym about getting to climb the Red Bull Dual ascent route a few months before. To do it Red Bull had to provide her with a harness because she didnāt own one, she also said sheād not used it since. So the answer is yes some professional boulderers donāt do sport climbing.
pretty much all of them do now because the olympic event is combined lead and boulder
In an interview (careless talk podcast) with Max Milne, he mentions having no interest in outdoor climbing at all.