2 New Gold Medalists in Wujiang
Despite the early conditions on the wall appearing less than ideal, this weekend’s Speed World Cup in Wujiang, China was full of personal bests and surprising results. As the 2019 speed season progresses, climbers are speeding up with average times decreasing each world cup, particularly among the non-speed specialists.
Dmitrii TIMOFEEV (RUS) was at the top of his game today with a string of personal bests starting with the 1/8 finals all the way to his 5.580-second climb in semi-finals. In the big final, TIMOFEEV beat out the 2019 Moscow winner Bassa MAWEM (FRA) by 0.213 seconds gaining the first-place spot on the podium and his first medal of the season, leaving MAWEM with silver. With a very strong start in the small final, Lucovico FOSSALI (ITA) seized the bronze medal for the event. Last week’s 2019 Chongqing Speed Climbing Champion, Alfian MUHAMMED (INA) fell in a tight race to the finish during the first round of finals to Jan KRIZ (CZE) by a mere 0.030 seconds.
The women’s event started off strong in the qualifiers with 8 women clocking in under 8 seconds. However, in a shocking turn of events, two competition favorites, YiLing SONG and Iuliia KAPLINA did not advance past the round of eight. SONG, who beat the women’s speed world record last week with a blistering 7.101-second climb, fell to Aleksandra KALUCKA (POL) after slipping twice on the wall. It was the 2019 Chongqing Speed silver medalist, Aleksandra RUDEINSKA (POL) who attained the coveted first place position in the women’s event this time in a close race against Aries SUSANTI RAHAYU (INA). The small final between Anouck JAUBERT (FRA) and Anna TSYGANOVA (RUS) was a battle to the end with both competitors launching off the starting pad to the cheers of the crowd resulting in JAUBERT earning bronze and her first medal of the 2019 speed competition season.
Visit the official event page for the full results and highlights from Wujiang, and stay tuned as the 4th Bouldering World Cup Competition of 2019 starts tomorrow.
