The new format will see more than 50 athletes, representing nine nations and climbing on seven speed walls at seven different locations around the world.

Climbers from Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Poland and Russia will compete in the initial qualification round, with the top 16 climbers in the overall rankings advancing to the finals.

The final phase of the Speed Knockout event will follow the same format as a regular Speed World Cup.

Among the climbers participating are Frenchman Mickael Mawem, who has qualified for Tokyo 2020, Indonesia’s two-time World Cup gold medallist Alfian Muhammad and six-time World Cup medallist Aspar Jaelolo, Italy’s reigning speed world champion Ludovico Fossali, Poland’s twin sisters Aleksandra and Natalia Kalucka – who respectively won the Speed Youth World Championship in 2017 and 2018, Russian Julia Kaplina, who has qualified for Tokyo 2020 and 2016 speed world champion Anna Tsyganova.

The event starts at 5pm CET tomorrow, equivalent to midnight JST on Monday August 3, with the time chosen to mark one year to the day that sport climbing begins at the rearranged Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Women's and men's qualifications will take place first, followed by the women's and men's finals.

“We're pretty excited about this competition," said IFSC President Marco Scolaris.

"It's a completely new format and I have to congratulate our sport department for coming up with the whole idea during these extremely challenging times.

"Our national federations embraced the project with enthusiasm, and that already is the greatest satisfaction for us."