The World’s Fastest Climbers Just Got Faster – Two World Records in Salt Lake
He set an untouchable world record one month ago. Now, he seems to be in a class of his own
5.10 seconds. This afternoon, Indonesia’s Kiromal Katibin broke his own Speed world record for the second time. He set the fastest pace up the 15 metre Speed wall for the third time in the last 12 months. Where others struggle to knock hundredths of seconds off their time, Katibin manages to clip nearly a tenth of a second between world records.
As Katibin climbed into the history books for the third time this year, Poland’s Aleksandra Miroslaw once again established the women’s world record, at a blistering 6.53. Not only did this run establish a new record, it also put her in first by over half a second a World Cup event.
Men
The two heat Speed event ran quick with Indonesia dominating the men’s category. As with last weekend, only two of the country’s fastest runners competed in qualifiers. Still, each stands to walk away from this weekend with a medal. Katibin’s steady progression showed itself in Seoul, Korea one month ago where he set the world record at 5.17 seconds. Last weekend, American John Brosler approached this record with his in-competition personal best of 5.20.
It seemed that someone could catch the Indonesian Speeder, but even Brosler’s national record setting falls a full tenth of a second behind Katibin’s new world record. Although Brosler ran fast today, his 5.57 second time came third to Veddriq Leonardo’s 5.28-second run.
Brosler showed consistency in placing high through back-to-back finals-qualifying speed runs in last week’s and today’s Speed World Cup events. If he can maintain consistency, he may medal or even win presuming he takes down the defending Indonesian leaders. Their consistency remains difficult to upset.
Although the major story in the men’s field surrounded the setting of the new world record, Team Canada’s Ethan Pitcher set a new Canadian national record, earning finals with a pace of 5.83 seconds. The field seems generally faster this week, as Pitcher qualified in 15 position as opposed to last week’s 14 position, despite his running .23 seconds faster than last week.
Pitcher has shown consistency by earning two Speed World Cup finals in a row, and will look to improve upon his 14 final placement from last week’s event. As finals operates as a head-to-head competition. Pitcher could go far by staying on the wall and maintaining his pace.
Women
In the women’s field, Poland continues to dominate with five women heading to finals. Aleksandra Miroslaw and Aleksandra Kalucka qualified in first and second respectively, once more showing Miroslaw’s ability over the rest of the field. Not only did Miroslaw lead by over half a second, Miroslaw re-established the women’s world record in the same round Katibin set the men’s world record.
Although Poland’s dominance is noteworthy, Miroslaw’s incredible distance from the rest of the field is reticent of Garnbret’s performance relative to the women’s Boulder category. Additionally, the consistency at the top of the women’s field is significant. While the times differ, the order from last week’s World Cup remains with Emma Hunt holding down third heading into finals.
Hunt only trails Kalucka by .01 second and ran a substantially faster second time of 7.17 to Kalucka’s 7.44-second time. Regardless of how Hunt’s final turns out, her incredible run set the US National record once again.
This four-record qualification round, across both the men’s and women’s field appears to further a point published in last week’s article: record breaking occurs in qualification rounds. With the safety a second chance offers, climbers give their all toward a fastest possible time in qualifiers. As the head-to-head format in finals punishes falling, qualifiers allow the greatest opportunity for new records. With that said, Katibin ran a 5.088-second run during practice this afternoon. He may be able to consistently pace well enough to set another record in tonight’s final at 10:00 pm EST.
Advancing to Finals
Men
1 – Kiromal Katibin (INA); 5.10
2 – Veddriq Leonardo (INA); 5.28
3 – John Brosler (USA); 5.57
4 – Euncheol Shin (KOR); 5.58
5 – Erik Noya Cardona (ESP); 5.67
6 – Ludovico Fossali (ITA); 5.68
7 – Yongjun Jung (KOR); 5.71
8 – Marcin Dzienski (POL); 5.732
9 – Seungbeom Lee (KOR); 5.737
10 – Samuel Watson (USA); 5.739
11 – Guillaume Moro (FRA); 5.74
12 – Amir Maimuratov (KAZ); 5.76
13 – Tobias Plangger (AUT); 5.826
14 – Pierre Rebreyend (FRA); 5.827
15 – Ethan Pitcher (CAN); 5.83
16 – Sebastian Lucke (GER); 5.87
Women
1 – Aleksandra Miroslaw (POL); 6.53
2 – Aleksandra Kalucka (POL); 7.04
3 – Emma Hunt (USA); 7.05
4 – Natalia Kalucka (POL); 7.16
5 – Giulia Randi (ITA); 7.58
6 – Beatrice Colli (ITA); 7.60
7 – Patrycja Chudziak (POL); 7.66
8 – Karin Hayashi (JPN); 7.70
9 – Capucine Viglione (FRA); 7.78
10 – Franziska Rittere (GER); 7.86
11 – Andrea Rojas (ECU); 7.93
12 – Nuria Brockfeld (GER); 8.10
13 – Piper Kelly (USA); 8.41
14 – Callie Close (USA); 8.44
15 – Anna Brozek (POL); 8.52
16 – Tetiana Kolkotina (UKR); 8.56
Featured image of Kiromal Katibin by Daniel Gajda.
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