Chengdu turned into a speed climbing arena 🧗♂️ at the 2025 World Games, and the Chinese mainland athletes were on fire 🔥, nabbing five of six medals!
First up, Chu Shouhong blasted up the wall in just 4.80 seconds – that’s faster than you can blink! 😲 Meanwhile, Olympic silver medalist Deng Lijuan edged her teammate Qin Yumei by a hair (0.01s) to claim the women’s top spot in 6.40 seconds. Gold and silver locked down by the home squad – talk about a power move! 🇨🇳
Even without some big names like Wu Peng and Poland’s Aleksandra Miroslaw, the field was stacked. Indonesia’s Olympic champ Veddriq Leonardo, the US’s record-holder Samuel Watson and top-ranked Emma Hunt, plus strong teams from Kazakhstan and Japan, brought serious heat. It felt every bit as intense as an Olympic final! 🏅
In the semis, two men and three women from the Chinese mainland punched their tickets to the last four. The women’s podium was a clean sweep: Deng’s win, Qin’s silver, and Zhou Yafei snagging bronze by a razor-thin 0.03s over Indonesia’s Desak Made Rita Kusuma Dewi. All three flags, all three medals – you could hear the crowd roar! 🎉
“When the anthem played and I saw three flags, I was over the moon,” said Deng, grinning ear to ear. “I just stayed focused on each climb.”
For young climbers in Mumbai, Manila or Jakarta, this is your cue: time to hit the wall, chase those seconds, and maybe we’ll see you on the podium next! 💪
Reference(s):
Chinese climbers sweep men's, women's speed gold medals at World Games
cgtn.com
