POLAND AND INDONESIA CONTINUE THEIR SPEED DOMINATION

The opening day of the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) World Cup in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, picked up from where the Speed circuit had left off a couple of weeks earlier: with red-and-white flags waving at the top of both podiums!

The Polish and Indonesian climbing teams, respectively dominated the women’s and men’s Speed events in Salt Lake City: Aleksandra Miroslaw led an all-Polish podium that also included twin sisters Aleksandra and Natalia Kalucka; while Kiromal Katibin and Veddriq Leonardo jumped on a World Cup podium together, once again.

Miroslaw took gold for the second consecutive World Cup event – the seventh of her career – marking the best time of her final in the race for the gold medal: 6.93 seconds. Aleksandra Kalucka won Silver, finishing almost one seconds behind her teammate with 7.83.

The current women’s Speed world champion, Natalia Kalucka, competed the podium in third place, besting Emma Hunt of the United States of America in one of the closest races of the night: 7.52 for the Polish climber, 7.58 for Hunt.

For the women’s Speed event full results click here.

A faulty finale characterised the men’s Speed final, which was eventually won by the current men’s Speed world record holder Kiromal Katibin of Indonesia.

Katibin claimed gold with 5.64 seconds in the final, with Noah Bratschi of the United States of America falling midway through his ascent. Previosuly, both Katibin and Bratschi had qualified for the gold medal race thanks to two falls: from Ludovico Fossali of Italy and Veddriq Leonardo, respectively.

In the small final, Leonardo stopped the clock at 5.59 seconds, placing third. Fossali fell for the second time in his round and finished in fourth position.

For the men’s Speed event full results click here.

The IFSC Boulder and Speed World Cup in Salt Lake City will continue tomorrow with the men’s Boulder qualification, starting at 9:00 AM (UTC-6:00), and the women’s Boulder qualification, scheduled to begin at 3:30 PM.

For information about broadcasting and live streaming of the IFSC Climbing and Paraclimbing World Cups in Salt Lake City click here. News and updates about the event will also be available on the IFSC website, and on the Federation’s social media channels: Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

The podium of the women's Speed event at the IFSC World Cup in Salt Lake City (USA)
Photo: Daniel Gajda/IFSC