At the end of the season an overall ranking was determined based upon points, which athletes were awarded for finishing in the top 30 of each individual event.

For the 2017 season the IFSC changed the timing method for the finals of World Cup tournaments.

Beginning in 2017 any attempt would only be considered successful if the athlete had reached the top and demonstrated control over it within the four minute time limit.

This led to an online petition asking the IFSC to change their deal with FloSports, which was signed by more than 12,000 people,[3] and an open letter by the Athletes' Commission.

The Commission voiced their frustration over the way the IFSC had previously communicated with the community at large, and "asked the athletes to withdraw cooperation with the livestream media until changes are made".

[3] On the next day the IFSC apologized for having made a mistake, and announced that the deal with FloSports had not actually been signed yet despite the earlier press release, and would not be concluded.

Jongwon Chon (4t6 4b5) won the competition in front of Tomoa Narasaki (2t2 3b3), who claimed the second place over Alexey Rubtsov by virtue of his better semi-final score.

At this point Coxsey and Nanjing runner-up Janja Garnbret (3t7 3b7) were the only two athletes to have made the final of all World Cups of the season.

Alexey Rubtsov (3t8 4b13) won the World Cup in front of Tomoa Narasaki (3t9 4b19), who had his third consecutive silver medal finish.

This left Chon, Rubtsov, and Watabe with a chance to claim the overall title at the final World Cup of the season in Munich.