HUNT AND ZHAO LEAD SPEED QUALIFICATIONS IN CHONGQING
The world record holders top the women’s and men’s fields as another continental benchmark falls ahead of the final four-lane event of the season
One week after the opening leg of the Chinese Speed doubleheader in Guiyang, the World Climbing Series moved to Chongqing for the final four-lane event of the 2026 season, with Emma Hunt of the USA and China’s Zhao Yicheng leading the qualification rounds.
HUNT SETS THE PACE, HOLDER BREAKS NEW GROUND
Current world record holder Emma Hunt topped the women’s qualification with a time of 6.09 seconds. Spain’s Leslie Adriana Romero Pérez followed in second with 6.25, while China’s Fan Jingyue completed the top three in 6.37.
South Africa’s Aniya Holder again made history in qualification, setting a new women’s Speed African record of 7.99 seconds. Having lowered the continental benchmark just one week earlier in Guiyang, Holder became the first African woman to break the eight-second barrier.
A total of 32 women advanced to the final round, with Germany’s Nele Thomas and USA’s Piper Kelly taking the final qualification spots with 7.58 and 7.65, respectively.
Thomas produced a personal best of 7.56 during her third run, improving her previous mark by two hundredths of a second.
“Qualification was pretty good for me. The first one was okay, then I slept, the third one was pretty good and then the fourth one got even better! It was a personal best, I did 7.56, so a 0.02 improvement."
The German climber identified her reaction time as an area where she can still improve ahead of the finals: “I can try to go faster, I have to lower my reaction time, probably.”
Looking ahead to the final round, Thomas knows she will face some of the fastest climbers in the field: “I guess I just have to push, because I have to run against really strong, fast women, so I just have to do my best.”
ZHAO LEADS A CLOSE MEN’S FIELD
Zhao Yicheng set the fastest time of the men’s qualification round with 4.66 seconds, continuing his strong form after setting a new world record with Ling Yongzhi in the men's Speed Relay at last week’s event in Guiyang.
USA’s Michael Hom and Samuel Watson finished second and third respectively, separated by just one hundredth of a second. Hom clocked 4.74, while Watson hit the finish pad at 4.75.
Germany’s Andrin Zedler secured the final qualification spot with 5.135, the fastest cut time recorded in a four-lane Speed event this season.
Hom explained that he deliberately built up his runs throughout qualification before going all out on his final attempt: “It was a little strategy, because last competition I was going all out in all of the races and it did not work out. So here I went really safe on the first one, just to get something in there, get the confidence boost. Then the second one I went a little faster, a little faster. And the last one, I knew I was in, so I just went all out.”
NEXT UP
Speed finals are set to close day one in Chongqing starting at 19:30 (UTC+8:00).
News and updates about all World Climbing events will be available on the World Climbing website, and on the Federation’s digital channels: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube, and exclusively for the Chinese audience, Douyin, Weibo, and Xiaohongshu.
