2019 World Championships: Who to Watch for in Speed
Athletes are given a much needed rest day on Friday August 16 and the Speed World Championships take place on Saturday August 17, 2019. The qualification round starts at 12:30pm. The livestream of Finals is at
5:30pm, local time (1:30am PT, 4:30am ET).
The Men
Two men you’re sure to see in speed Finals are Reza Alipourshenazandifar from Iran and Bassa Mawem from France. Alipourshenazandifar holds the men’s speed world record (5.48 seconds) and he is the reigning World Champion. Mawem came second in Innsbruck last year and is currently first in the rankings. With two World Cup wins under his belt so far this season, Alfian Muhammad (INA) is looking strong along with QiXin Zhong (CHN), who consistently places in the top ten.
Russia has a remarkably strong team of speed athletes, all of whom could do well. Vladislav Deulin came 5th at last year’s Championships and is currently ranked 2nd, followed by Dmitrii Timofeev. The team list goes on with Stanislav Kokorin, Sergey Rukin and the two Aleksandrs, Shikov and Shilov.
Women
The standout names to watch for next week are the two women who broke world records this season: YiLing Song (CHN) and Anouck Jaubert (FRA). Currently ranked first and second in the World Cup rankings, these two athletes clearly stand out above the rest. So far this WC season, 18-year-old Song has won three times and came 2nd once. Jaubert has been on top for a while. The 25-year-old athlete has been on the podium (plus one 4th place) at World Cup competitions 12 times in two years. That number includes 5 wins, one of which was in Villars last month.
Like Jaubert, Aries Susanti Rahayu has been performing consistently for the last few seasons. With three wins in 2018 and currently 4th in the 2019 World Cup ranking, the speedy Indonesian is also someone to watch for.
Finally, the women from Team Poland are on fire this season – as they were last year, for that matter. Aleksandra Kalucka, Aleksandra Miroslaw, Patrycja Chudziak and Anna Brozek are all top performers. Miroslaw and Brozek took first and second in Innsbruck last year, and are currently ranked 8th and 11th. Kalucka and Chudziak are ranked 6th and 7th.
Canadians
Climbing for Canada in Speed are: Alannah Yip, Rebecca Frangos, Sean McColl and Jason Holowach. Speed is not the primary discipline for these athletes, but they are going to give it all they’ve got in hopes of doing well enough to earn them a spot in the Olympic Selection event.
Alannah Yip has done noticeably well this speed season. While she has not made it to the final rounds, Yip climbed her personal best speed in Wujiang (9.449 seconds) and ended up in 26th place in Chamonix – her best finish in the 2019 speed season to date. What’s impressive is that she is consistently finishing ahead of many top bouldering and lead climbers. In Chamonix, for example, Yip climbed faster than Miho Nonaka, Akiyo Noguchi, Shauna Coxsey, Petra Klingler, Jessica Pilz and Janja Garnbret. This comparison matters because qualifying for the Olympic Selection event depends on results across all three disciplines at these Championships.
McColl also clocked a personal best time (7.11 seconds) this season in April in Chongqing. Of course, he and Yip will both be looking to match or beat their PBs this Sunday to up their chances of being one of the twenty competitors to qualify for the combined event.
Speed World Records
MEN
Reza Alipourshenazandifar (IRI) – 5.48 seconds, April 30, 2017 in Nanjing, China
Danyil Boldyrev (UKR) – 5.6 seconds, September 12, 2014 in Gijon, Spain
WOMEN
YiLing Song (CHN) – 7.10 seconds, April 26, 2019 in Chongqing, China
Anouck Jaubert (FRA) – 7.32 seconds, April 22, 2019 in Moscow, Russia
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