New “World Record” Speed Climbing Time

History was made in British Columbia on the weekend after Libor Hroza set a new speed climbing record.

On Sunday, April 26 at the Sport Climbing Association of British Columbia Provincial Championships held at the Boulders Climbing Gym in Central Saanich, history was made when Czech climber Libor Hroza, an athlete who has been training at The Boulders for the past 18 months, won gold in the Speed Climbing Championship, setting a new world record time in the process of 5.578 seconds, 0.022 seconds better than the official world record of 5.6 seconds that is held by the Ukraine’s Danyl Boldyrev.

This is significant as this is the fastest time ever recorded in competition. However, it is not an official world record, as official marks can only be set at International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) events.

In this regard and also of note, just three weeks from now on May 17, the IFSC Speed World Cup will be making a stop at The Boulders Climbing Gym in Central Saanich, the first time ever that an IFSC World Cup event is being held outside Europe or Asia. Hroza will have an opportunity at the IFSC World Cup to duplicate or better his time and re-capture the official world record (he held it prior to Boldyrev’s mark) and he will be able to do it going head-to-head with Boldyrev and other world class speed climbing athletes that will be coming to the event.

The IFSC Speed World Cup is also being held in conjunction with the Climbing Escalade Canada Sport Climbing National Championships at The Boulders, May 16 to 18, 2015. Top ranked climbers from across Canada will be competing in both the Lead/Difficulty and Speed disciplines.