New Speed World Record at Salt Lake City World Cup
A new speed World Record was set late last night. Even more surprising were the Olympians who made it to Finals.
Last night saw the first Speed World Cup of 2021. While the many rounds saw a great many firsts for national record holders, the big news of the night came from the Indonesian team.
Teammates Veddriq Leonardo and Kiromal Katibin found themselves side by side for the final run of the night. The head-to-head style of speed rounds added another level of pressure to the split-second-separated field. Walking away with Gold and Silver medals, the two Indonesians would climb under the previous World Record a total of seven times during the competition.
Leonardo and Katibin came to Salt Lake City with one thing on their mind: breaking world records. Leonardo spoke to that effect following finals suggesting a lack of concern for placement. He instead focused on person achievement. For the Indonesians, personal achievement raised the bar internationally.
In third position, Poland’s Marcin Dzienski took home Bronze with a time of 5.84. The head-to-head format of the competition pushed American John Brosler to fourth position, despite the fact the Brosler ran the fastest time of the two of them. This shows how precise even the power-pushing discipline of speed climbing can become. Brosler still took home a National Record time.
While no world records were broken in the women’s field, the event offered numerous surprises. While first and second positions were taken by Speed-focused climbers Aleksandra Miroslaw and Emma Hunt, Japan’s Olympian Miho Nonaka took Bronze.
Miroslaw climbed well, and America’s Hunt established the US National record once again. Nonaka, and French Olympian Anouck Jaubert climbed extremely fast for Olympians training every event. In the Olympic Combined format, performing well in all three disciplines; Speed, Boulder, Lead; will become a prerequisite of they who stand on the podium.
Naturally, each athlete will have to perform extremely well at their strengths, but performing well in Speed could offer serious value in the long-run. Meiringen World Cup winner Janja Garnbret, by comparison, took 14 position. If Garnbret and Nonaka score close in Lead and Boulder at the Olympics then Speed could decide who takes home gold.
With Speed over, Salt Lake City has prepared for its second of two Bouldering World Cups. While some of the field will feel the fatigue, Japanese Olympians Kai Harada and Tomoa Naraskai will feel relatively rested. To that effect, Garnbret should feel strong considering that she did not compete last weekend. With that said, the Olympians follow their own training schedule unique from the circuit.
Kokoro Fujii, Yoshiyuki Ogata, Natalia Grossman, Brooke Raboutou, Miho Nonaka, and Oriane Bertone will be the climbers to watch. Each have a chance at Gold, but Narasaki and Garnbret’s prowess leave little room for mistake.
Qualifiers will not be live streamed, but can be followed on the IFSC’s World Cup Series app.
Featured Image of the Fastest Man in North America, John Brosler. Image by Greg Mionske.
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