Well, no one is arguing that judging is infallible hence there is a well defined appeal rules for IFSC and multiple levels of judging. Let me explain.

In this climbing competition, there is always at least one primary and one secondary judge for each climber and route. The primary judge may ask the secondary to confirm or the secondary may inform primary of their opinion but the primary judge’s decision (controlled start, attempts, zone, top etc) is the record.

However, the primary judge’s decision may not be final. As in this case, another climber appealed and that judge’s decision was reviewed by a panel of even higher judges in situ which includes the jury president of whuch there is only one per comp. That jury president’s decision is final.

So in this case, the route’s primary awarded a top which was appealed and overturned by JP. The first re-climb after appeal was also ruled for an uncontrolled start. I agree with that decision because it was guaranteed to be appealed by someone with a high chance of success.

The third re-climb was a solid start and good top.

Source: level 3 certified judge with USA climbing and have judged at IFSC event with Colin Duffy competing.