The International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) has named Perfect Descent the official auto belay of global speed competitions. 
Changes to the speed license rules were recently made, so now automatic belay systems are required to be used in all Speed World Record events. A public bid was issued by the IFSC in early June, and the license was awarded to C-3 Manufacturing, maker of Perfect Descent Climbing System.
The introduction of automatic belay systems to competitive speed climbing eliminates the potential for a belay team to inadvertently or otherwise aid a climber. This has stirred controversy over the years and teams have challenged competition results when they think a climber received unfair assistance while on belay.
Perfect Descent auto belays were used in July at the 2016 IFSC World Cup speed climbing finals in Chamonix, France.
Speed climbing will make its debut as an official Olympic sport at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, alongside bouldering and sport climbing.
