The Climbing programme at The World Games Chengdu 2025 will burst into life on Thursday, 14 August, with the men’s and women’s Speed events. The 15-metre wall will see the fastest athletes on the planet go head-to-head, chasing a place on The World Games podium.

WATSON, LEONARDO HEADLINE MEN’S FIELD

In the men’s field, current Speed world record holder Samuel Watson of the USA will surely be one to watch, along with Paris 2024 gold medallist Veddriq Leonardo of Indonesia, and reigning world champion and Paris 2024 Olympian Matteo Zurloni of Italy.

Continental record holders Julian David of New Zealand and Joshua Bruyns of South Africa will both make an attempt at lowering their regional record and PBs.

HUNT LOOKING TO DEFEND 2022 TITLE

Reigning women’s Speed world champion Desak Made Rita Kusuma Dewi of Indonesia will be joined by Pan American record holder Emma Hunt of the USA and nine-time World Cup medallist Natalia Kalucka of Poland. Both Hunt and Kalucka were on the women's Speed podium at the previous edition of The World Games, in Birmingham, Alabama, USA: Hunt won gold, while Kalucka took silver.

Sarah Tetzlaff of New Zealand and Aniya Holder of South Africa, both continental record holders, will also be in the mix.

SCHEDULE

The programme will open on Thursday with a classic two-lane Speed competition, while Friday’s action will feature the brand new Speed 4 format. Climbing action will close on Saturday with a revamped format of the Speed Relay event, previously contested at the Asian Games with three climbers per team, and now featuring two athletes per team.

The schedule of Climbing events at The World Games Chengdu 2025 are as follows:

Thursday, 14 August (UTC+8:00):
10:45 - Men's Speed qualification
11:45 - Women's Speed qualification
17:30 - Speed finals

Friday, 15 August:
9:30 - Women's Speed 4 qualification seeding
11:10 - Men's Speed 4 qualification seeding
12:30 - Women's Speed 4 qualification elimination
12:40 - Men's Speed 4 qualification elimination
18:00 - Speed 4 finals

Saturday, 16 August:
10:00 - Men's Speed Relay qualification
10:43 - Women's Speed Relay qualification
11:38 - Speed Relay finals

WHERE TO WATCH

All Speed final rounds will be live streamed on The World Games Live platform.

News and updates about the event 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, Bilibili, Douyin, Weibo, and Xiaohongshu.