Ready for some heart-pounding action? 🧗♂️ The Chengdu World Games just rolled out an epic new format: four-lane speed climbing! Imagine four climbers racing side by side, all eyeing the top pad at the same time – talk about leveling up the thrill factor. 🔥
On Friday in Chengdu, Chinese mainland's Long Jianguo set a blazing 4.74-second national record to seize gold. "I felt this format was so much fun after the first run," he grinned. "There's a lot of unpredictability – I didn't know my place until I hit the top pad."
Long, a former World Cup champion, barely squeezed through the quarterfinals but stormed the medal round as the only climber from the Chinese mainland. His secret? A solid team handling every off-wall detail so he can zero in on the climb. 🎯
In the women's final, Indonesia's Desak Made Rita Kusuma Dewi owned the scene with a 6.35-second dash. A newcomer from the Chinese mainland, Qin Yumei, grabbed silver in 6.42s, and Desak's teammate Rajiah Sallsabillah snatched bronze by a razor-thin 0.005s. Talk about a photo finish!
International climbers are buzzing. "The four-lane is super fun," said USA's Logan Schlecht. "You get four runs in qualifiers – more chances to fix mistakes and keep the adrenaline pumping." 🤩
Toru Kobinata, Vice President of the International Federation of Sport Climbing, calls the World Games the perfect lab to test fresh formats that make speed climbing more unpredictable and pack more excitement into every second.
Whether you're a climber in Manila, a thrill-seeker in Mumbai, or just love a fast stream sesh on your phone, this four-lane showdown is set to become the next big thing. Stay tuned — the race to evolve sport climbing is on!
Reference(s):
China, Indonesia win in four-lane speed climbing's World Games debut
cgtn.com
