China sweep speed titles at Climbing World Cup

China's Long Jianguo and Zhang Shaoqin claimed the men's and women's speed climbing gold medals respectively on Saturday at the first speed climbing World Cup of the 2025 season in Wujiang, east China's Jiangsu Province.

American favorite Samuel Watson, who entered the event with hopes of breaking his own world record, finished fourth after slipping in the semifinals.

Long Jianguo (R) of China and Hryhorii Ilchyshyn of Ukraine compete during the men's speed final at the IFSC World Cup Wujiang 2025 in Suzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province, April 26, 2025. (Photo by Wang Xuzhong/Xinhua)

For the past three years, both the men's and women's speed world records have fallen at the season's opening World Cup event. Expectations were high this year, with both Watson and rising Chinese star Zhao Yicheng, who is not yet age-eligible for international competitions, achieving sub-4.70 times during the offseason.

Watson, 19, who set the world record of 4.74 seconds at the Paris Olympics, slipped early in his semifinal run in Wujiang. Though he managed to recover, he posted a time of 5.17 seconds and was eliminated.

"It's a disappointing day," Watson said. "I don't exactly know what happened in the semis. I have to look at the videos. I slipped and tried to recover, and I lost by whatever amount of seconds. I really love competing here, but disappointed to walk away today."

Still, the 19-year-old remains confident about chasing his own world record: "I still believe in myself. I believe I can do it. It's going to happen sometime this year."

Long, on the other hand, delivered a strong performance in the semifinals, clocking a personal best of 4.81 seconds to eliminate former world record holder Kiromal Katibin of Indonesia.

In the final, Long edged Ukraine's Hryhorii Ilchyshyn with a time of 4.88 seconds, winning his first speed title since June 2023.

Reflecting on his victory, Long expressed calm rather than excitement: "It's been more than a year since my last World Cup win, and today I just felt at peace. I know I've reached this level in training, and today I was able to show it in competition."

The title-holder hopes to carry this form into the World Championships and National Games later this year.

Katibin rebounded to claim bronze, matching the Asian record with a 4.75-second climb in the third-place race.

On the women's side, 25-year-old Zhang advanced to the final by defeating Paris Olympic silver medalist Deng Lijuan in the semifinals, then edged South Korea's Jeong Ji-min by 0.05 seconds with a personal best of 6.32 seconds. Deng took bronze with a time of 6.34 seconds.

Speaking after the event, Zhang attributed her success to her focus: "I was more concentrated during the final. My next goal is to improve further, aiming for the 6.10 to 6.20 range."