Flying the flag for the home nation will be 14 of the nation’s best and fastest climbers, including Olympian Leslie Romero Peréz, who is now under the guidance of team coach Mateusz Miroslaw.

If you recognise the name Miroslaw, it’s because Mateusz is the husband and coach of Olympic gold medallist and world record holder Aleksandra Miroslaw. Although the Polish speedster isn’t in Madrid, there are plenty to get the crowd going.

In the men’s competition there is world champion Jianguo Long from China. There’s USA’s Zach Hammer who has Olympic and World Cup medal winning experience.

For the women. Yafei Zhou is among a strong Chinese team. USA’s World Cup winner and Continental record holder Emma Hunt is in Spain to compete. And of course, back to Romero Peréz and the home nation climbers like Carla Martínez Vidal and Erik Noya Cardona.

Speaking about what it will be like in front of a home crowd Romero Peréz said: “I think it’s always incredible to compete at home and have that familiar atmosphere around you.

“It gives you the opportunity to have your family and friends there supporting you and watching you compete live, and that always gives you extra motivation to give your best.”

Talking about the impact it will have on her home nation’s climbing community Romero Peréz said: “Of course, having an event like this in Spain is also very important for climbing in general. It helps give more visibility not only to the athletes, but also to the sport itself.

“I think it’s really important for younger climbers to be able to watch the best athletes in the world compete in their own country, because that can be truly inspiring.”

Madrid hosted last year, but it was in the Lead discipline, but Romero Peréz still kept a close eye on the action: “I watched it through the livestream because I live in Barcelona and I couldn’t miss training to travel and watch the event in person.

“But even through the stream, it was really exciting to see such a big international climbing event happening in Spain.

"From what I saw during the broadcast, and also from what people who attended told me afterwards, the atmosphere and the crowd were incredible. I think that was really impressive and very special for climbing in Spain.”

Moving the focus back specifically to Romero Peréz and her 2026 season so far the Spanish climber said: "Honestly, I’m really happy with the whole process we’ve had since the end of last season. I’ve improved a lot technically and mentally, and I feel like I understand the process and everything that this sport really requires much better now.

“I’ve also committed myself even more this season. I really gave my best during the entire pre-season, and we’re still learning and improving every day.

“Working with Mateusz has been incredible because we continue learning so much and improving little by little, which is the most important thing.”

Speed got off to a very fast start in 2026 with Wujiang with both the men and women shattering the lowest times to make it through qualification. Talking about this Romero Peréz said: “Wujiang was an incredibly fast competition. Those qualification times were honestly crazy, and even though I expected the level to be high, I was still really surprised to see so many women taking that next step and climbing such fast and similar times at the top level.

“But I think that’s something really positive for the sport. When the level rises, it pushes everyone to evolve, both physically and mentally, if you want to stay there or even go further. And honestly, that’s what makes this sport so exciting and what motivates me so much to keep improving.”

The Speed competition begins for everyone with qualification at 11:15 (local time, UTC +2:00) 31 May 2026 with the finals later in the day at 18:00 to close the World Climbing Series Comunidad de Madrid 2026.

WHERE TO WATCH

The semi-final and final rounds will be live streamed on the World Climbing YouTube channel, with geo-blocking applied to selected countries and territories.

News and updates about all World Climbing events will be available on the official website, and on the Federation’s digital channels: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube, and exclusively for the Chinese audience, Bilibili, Douyin, Weibo, and Xiaohongshu.