Delivering a gripping performance

China's speed climbers scale new heights at Shanghai qualifier

Don't blink or you will miss it! That's the number one rule the new fans of speed climbing learned quickly, as they watched the gravity-defying action — described as "a sprint race gone vertical" — at the Huangpu Riverside in Shanghai during the Olympic Qualifier Series' first leg last week. Sixty-four elite climbers, across both men's and women's events, vied one-on-one for ranking points at the penultimate qualifier for Paris 2024.

In particular, it was the blockbuster men's final between China's world No 1 Wu Peng and Indonesian legend Veddriq Leonardo on Saturday that left the crowd in awe, as both climbers sprinted up the hold-studded 15-meter-high wall in under five seconds — even faster than many could run that distance on the track.

As a former world record holder, Leonardo cemented his leading position en route to Paris, as he outdid the host's surging world No 1 by tapping first in the final in a personal best time of 4.83 seconds, edging out Wu by 0.05 seconds.