The Colorado capital hosted it's first ever World Cup action with the Speed qualification rounds
Nestled in the middle of downtown Denver, the IFSC Speed World Cup got underway for the first time ever in the Colorado state capital with qualification for both the men and women.
First up were the women, with home nation climber Emma Hunt leading the way with the quickest time of 6.36s – a time that equal her personal best.
Hunt will be joined by two more American climbers and teammates with fellow Olympian Piper Kelly moving into finals in eighth and Isis Rothfork in 15th.
After the racing Kelly said: “It was the best qualification I ever had actually. IFSC PB’s in both practice and quali runs so I am super psyched to have such a good comp in front of my hometown crowd.
“I’m feeling really good, moving into finals in eighth I think, so in the top half and should have a little easier race first round, and I am excited to race again in front of this crowd.”
With the second quickest time, Poland’s Natalia Kalucka was ahead of five China’s climbers including Olympic medallist Deng Lijuan who was third.
Spain’s Leslie Adriana Romero Pérez moved through to finals in 12th position and said: “It was so-so. I feel good but I made some little mistakes so I’m not too happy with my round. But we will see tomorrow when the competition continues. We are here, and I’m happy.”
The cut off time for the finals was 7.67s and that was set by Poland’s Patrycja Chudziak who was in the 16thspot.
FINALISTS
1 Emma HUNT (USA) 6.36
2 Natalia KALUCKA (POL) 6.44
3 DENG Lijuan (CHN) 6.50
4 ZHOU Yafei (CHN) 6.56
5 QIN Yumei (CHN) 6.74
6 ZHANG Shaoqin (CHN) 6.79
7 MENG Shixue (CHN) 6.95
8 Piper KELLY (USA) 7.02
9 Giulia RANDI (ITA) 7.24
10 Beatrice COLLI (ITA) 7.28
11 Tamara ULZHABAYEVA (KAZ) 7.33
12 Leslie Adriana ROMERO PÉREZ (ESP) 7.33
13 Andrea ROJAS (ECU) 7.35
14 YANG Mi (CHN) 7.42
15 Isis ROTHFORK (USA) 7.49
16 Patrycja CHUDZIAK (POL) 7.67
Full results for women’s Speed can be found here: https://ifsc.hopp.to/den25wr
In the men’s competition, the top spot is taken by a climber who has visited the 2025 podium on two out of two events – Indonesia’s Kiromal Katibin.
With two bronze medals to his name this season, the former world record holder will be hoping to step a little higher this time around and started off well with the day’s best time of 4.83s.
In second and third are two home nation climbers, Zach Hammer and current world record holder Sam Watson. Both went under five seconds, as did fourth placed Chu Shouhong of China.
Germany’s Leander Carmanns progressed in seventh, and after climbing said: “Qualifiers went pretty well for me. I’m happy about my time. I pretty much started where I ended the last season, because it’s my first comp of the season. So, I’m happy to be through in seventh place and I’ll just try to enjoy the finals tomorrow.”
The cut off time for the men and the sixteenth position was 5.24s which Italy’s Alesandro Boulos posted. He moved into the finals alongside teammate and world champion Matteo Zurloni who was struggling with a cut to his knee in warm-up but still qualified in 11th position.
Although he didn’t make it into finals, there was a landmark result for Kuwait’s Nasser Abu Ergeeb in qualification. Explaining the result, he said: “I’m the first Arab to run under six seconds, and I really didn’t think this would happen. Thank you to my coach, Albert Ok, because he really made me believe in myself.”
Abu Ergeeb was congratulated by all his competitors in the warm-up zone as he left the stage after posting his sub-6 time, showing the camaraderie between everyone on the circuit.
FINALISTS
1 Kiromal KATIBIN (INA) 4.83
2 Zach HAMMER (USA) 4.88
3 Samuel WATSON (USA) 4.89
4 CHU Shouhong (CHN) 4.90
5 LONG Jianguo (CHN) 5.03
6 Amir MAIMURATOV (KAZ) 5.04
7 Leander CARMANNS (GER) 5.09
8 Michael HOM (USA) 5.09
9 Beknur ALTYNBEKOV (KAZ) 5.11
10 LI Xu (CHN) 5.12
11 Matteo ZURLONI (ITA) 5.15
12 OMASA Ryo (JPN) 5.16
13 Erik NOYA CARDONA (ESP) 5.19
14 Luca ROBBIATI (ITA) 5.21
15 YANG Jie (CHN) 5.22
16 Alesandro BOULOS (ITA) 5.24
Full results for men’s Speed can be found here: https://ifsc.hopp.to/den25mr
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.
