USA’s Samuel Watson will be the talk of the island, and the world, as he smashed his own Speed world record on two occasions at the IFSC World Cup Bali and Olympic champion Aleksandra Miroslaw returned to winning ways.

Watson hadn’t stepped on top of the men’s Speed podium since Chamonix last year, but he returned with a bang and a new world’s best time. The American had set the world record at Paris 2024 but won bronze there, in Bali he made it a world record-gold medal double.

Coming through a semi-final against Indonesia’s Raharjati Nursamsa, Watson lowered his world record to an astonishing 4.67s – but he wasn’t done there.

In the final he came up against Japan’s Omasa Ryo who was fighting for his best ever World Cup finish, and maybe the occasion got to him as he made a false start. It meant Watson had won the gold, but it also meant he could have called it a day with a world record and a gold medal. That’s just not Watson though.

“NFL players do the two-minute drill where they do a simulation of going through processes,” explained Watson, “and if I want to break a PB in practice I will do the same. I pretend I win gold, my opponent false started, and I just want to give the crowd one more run, especially this crowd in here in Bali. Everything just went right.”

Running on his own he posted a 4.64s, another world record, and an unexpected one at that: “The qualifiers and practice were boiling. I came back and put an ice pack on my head. But I am a competitor and the conditions affect everybody. I was lucky we got a bit of overcast so there was a little bit of shade, and I am really happy now. I wasn’t expecting it at all.”

After his gold there is a little down time to digest what he has just done in Bali, but then it’s back to business for Watson: “I will be going down to the beach and hanging out for about a day and enjoying this backdrop. I’ll relax for a bit and enjoy this beautiful city, country, island. Then I’ve got Denver. The World Cup Series overall is one of my goals and I am not going to let it go. I will keep pushing and not let it go to my head.”

For Omasa, he was having a quiet and confident World Cup. He beat Ukraine’s Hryhorii Ilchyshyn who was fresh of a Wujiang medal, he posted a personal best time of 4.90s and beat home favourite and a former world record holder Kiromal Katibin in the semi-final.

Just by making the gold medal race Omasa had secured his highest finish with two bronze medals in his career. The false start meant he got silver, but still an impressive competition and run of form.

The beaten semi-finalists Katibin and Nursamsa had to battle for the bronze, it did mean however that Indonesia were guaranteed a podium spot. It was Katibin who came out on top with a 4.81s time compared to his teammates 6.64s

Full men’s Speed results can be found here

The women’s world record holder, Poland’s Miroslaw has at time-to-time battled with her own mind. That was the case in Wujiang last week where she missed out on a podium, but the Olympic champion has learned how to refocus and fight back, and Bali was one of those times.

“I’m really happy,” said Miroslaw, “I had to do some hard work after last week with my mindset. I’m really proud of myself. My coach, my psychologist, my manager, everyone understood and tried to help me, and the hard work has paid off.

“I fought a lot inside at Wujiang, not the opponents, it was all inside me. You could see it. Now I just enjoyed the competition and did everything I could to come back stronger.”

Miroslaw had some tough races in finals, but her composure ensured her passage to the gold medal race. While world champion, Indonesia’s Dewi Desak slipped in the quarter-final, and Wujiang silver medallist, South Korea’s Jeong Jimin slipped in the semi-final, Miroslaw kept her nerve to move through the rounds.

In the gold medal race she came up against China’s Zhou Yafei who had dashed home hopes by beating Adi Asih Kadek in the semi-final in a nail-biting race.

The gold medal race wasn’t as close with Miroslaw posting a 6.37s and Zhou an 8.12s for silver.

Despite being beaten in the semi-final, Kadek was in her very first World Cup and was impressing along the way. Making it to semi-finals she was in with a medal shot.

Kadek made it a debut to remember as the Bali crowd cheered and supported her all the way to bronze when she beat Jeong in the bronze medal race. Kadek posted a 7.27 to Jeong’s 9.00s.

Full women’s Speed results can be found here

With the Speed climbers now taking some time to enjoy Bali before moving on to Denver at the end of May, the Lead climbers continue to prepare for the semi-finals and finals on the last day of the competition tomorrow.

News and updates about all IFSC events will be available on the IFSC website, and on the Federation’s digital channels: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube, and exclusively for the Chinese audience, Douyin, Weibo, and Xiaohongshu.