Speed climbing

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Speed climbing is a climbing discipline in which speed is the ultimate goal. [1] Speed climbing is done on rocks, walls and poles and is only recommended for highly skilled and experienced climbers. [2]

Contents

Competition speed climbing, which takes place on an artificial and standardized climbing wall, is the main form of speed climbing. However, there are types of speed climbing that take place outdoors, such as climbing famous big wall climbing routes in the shortest times, notable examples being on El Capitan in Yosemite National Park.

Competition speed climbing

Competition speed climbing as governed by the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) takes place on 15-metre (49 ft) artificial walls. Competitors climb a 5-degree overhanging IFSC-certified wall, with an auto-belaying system from the top of the wall. [3]

Since 2007 the IFSC has created a standard wall for the world record. The standard has a simple rule and it involves climbers competing on the same route, side by side, and whoever reaches the top first wins. [4] The holds and order are always identical, and the difficulty rating is around F6b (approximately YDS 5.10c), which is a level most recreational climbers could complete. The IFSC also sanctions speed climbing competitions [5] and those events that entail world record attempts. [6] Speed climbing was one of the three climbing modalities included in the combined format at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, along with lead and bouldering. Beginning at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, speed climbing will be its own standalone competition, separate from the lead and bouldering combined event. [7]

Time is determined by mechanical-electric timing (the competitor leaves the starting pad and strikes a switch at the top of the route). When mechanical-electric timing is used, the climbing time is displayed with an accuracy of one-hundredth of a second. In the rules modifications in 2018, the possibility to use manual timing was removed, and the mechanical-electric timing should record with a precision of 1/1000 second. This precision is only used for ranking in case of a tie. Further, the timing system needs to announce a false start, which is considered a start earlier than 0.1 seconds after the starting beep. [8]

World champions

The defending men's and women's speed climbing world champions are Matteo Zurloni of Italy and Desak Made Rita Kusuma Dewi of Indonesia, respectively; they won their respective speed events at the 2023 IFSC Climbing World Championships in Bern, Switzerland. [9] Veddriq Leonardo of Indonesia and Natalia Kalucka of Poland were the overall men's and women's winners for the 2023 IFSC Climbing World Cup speed series. [10] [11]

World and Olympic records

Progression of IFSC speed climbing records to July 2022

Since Qixin Zhong of China ran the 15-meter standardized wall in 6.26 seconds in 2011, the world record has been broken 15 times, ten times since 2021, most recently 4.798 seconds by Samuel Watson of USA in April 2024 at the Wujiang World Cup. That represents a drop of 23 percent since 2011.

Similarly, the women's speed climbing record has been broken 18 times since 2013, seven times since 2021, dropping from 7.85 seconds to the 6.25 seconds set by Aleksandra Mirosław of Poland in April 2023, a 20-percent reduction. [12]

Men's World Record History
DateTime (s)PersonLocationCompetition
April 12, 20244.798 [13] Flag of the United States.svg Samuel Watson Wujiang, China World Cup
April 28, 20234.90 [14] Flag of Indonesia.svg Veddriq Leonardo Seoul, South Korea World Cup
April 28, 20234.984 [15] Flag of Indonesia.svg Veddriq Leonardo Seoul, South Korea World Cup
July 8, 20225.009 [16] Flag of Indonesia.svg Kiromal Katibin Chamonix, France World Cup
June 30, 20225.04 [17] Flag of Indonesia.svg Kiromal Katibin Villars, Switzerland World Cup
June 30, 20225.09 [18] Flag of Indonesia.svg Kiromal Katibin Villars, Switzerland World Cup
May 27, 20225.10 [19] [20] Flag of Indonesia.svg Kiromal Katibin Salt Lake City, US World Cup
May 6, 20225.17 [21] Flag of Indonesia.svg Kiromal Katibin Seoul, South Korea World Cup
May 28, 20215.20 [22] Flag of Indonesia.svg Veddriq Leonardo Salt Lake City, US World Cup
May 28, 20215.25 [23] Flag of Indonesia.svg Kiromal Katibin Salt Lake City, US World Cup
April 30, 20175.48 [24] Flag of Iran.svg Reza Alipour Nanjing, China World Cup
September 12, 20145.60 [25] Flag of Ukraine.svg Danyil Boldyrev Gijon, Spain World Championships
August 31, 20145.73 [26] Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Libor Hroza Arco, Italy World Cup
August 30, 20145.76 [27] Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Libor Hroza Arco, Italy World Cup
October 13, 20125.88 [28] Flag of Russia.svg Evgenii Vaitcekhovskii Xining, China World Cup
August 27, 20116.26 [29] Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Qixin Zhong Arco, Italy World Championships
Men's Olympic Record History
DateTime (s)PersonLocationGames
August 3, 20215.45 [30] Flag of France.svg Bassa Mawem Aomi Urban Sports Park, Tokyo, Japan Tokyo 2020
Women's World Record History
DateTime (s)PersonLocationCompetition
September 15, 20236.24 [31] Flag of Poland.svg Aleksandra Mirosław Rome, ItalyIFSC European Olympic Qualifier
April 28, 20236.25 [32]

[33]

Flag of Poland.svg Aleksandra Mirosław Seoul, South Korea World Cup
April 28, 20236.35 [34]

[35]

Flag of Poland.svg Aleksandra Mirosław Seoul, South Korea World Cup
April 28, 20236.37 [36] Flag of Poland.svg Aleksandra Mirosław Seoul, South Korea World Cup
April 28, 20236.46 [37] Flag of Poland.svg Aleksandra Mirosław Seoul, South Korea World Cup
May 27, 20226.53 [38] [39] Flag of Poland.svg Aleksandra Mirosław Salt Lake City, US World Cup
May 6, 20226.64 [40] Flag of Poland.svg Aleksandra Mirosław Seoul, South Korea World Cup
August 6, 20216.84 [41] Flag of Poland.svg Aleksandra Mirosław Tokyo, Japan Olympic Games
November 21, 20206.96 [42] Flag of Russia.svg Iuliia Kaplina Moscow, Russia European Championships
October 19, 20196.99 [43] Flag of Indonesia.svg Aries Susanti Rahayu Xiamen, China World Cup
April 26, 20197.10 [44] Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg YiLing Song Chongqing, China World Cup
April 22, 20187.32 [45] Flag of France.svg Anouck Jaubert Moscow, Russia World Cup
July 22, 20177.32 [46] Flag of Russia.svg Iuliia Kaplina Wroclaw, Poland World Games
April 30, 20177.38 [47] Flag of Russia.svg Iuliia Kaplina Nanjing, China World Cup
April 23, 20177.46 [48] Flag of Russia.svg Iuliia Kaplina Chongqing, China World Cup
July 11, 20157.53 [49] Flag of Russia.svg Iuliia Kaplina Chamonix, France World Cup
June 21, 20157.56 [50] Flag of Russia.svg Iuliia Kaplina Chongqing, China World Cup
May 17, 20157.74 [51] Flag of Russia.svg Iuliia Kaplina Central Saanich, Canada World Cup
October 19, 20137.85 [52] Flag of Russia.svg Iuliia Kaplina Wujiang, China World Cup
Women's Olympic Record History
DateTime (s)PersonLocationGames
August 6, 20216.84 [53] Flag of Poland.svg Aleksandra Mirosław Tokyo, Japan Tokyo 2020
August 4, 20216.97 [54] Flag of Poland.svg Aleksandra Mirosław Tokyo, Japan Tokyo 2020

Non-competition speed climbing

Most non-competition speed climbing records lack the standards normally associated with objective records. Competition speed climber Hans Florine has written about non-competition speed climbing: "I will be the first to say that climbing is silly. To make rules about it is just piling ridiculous on top of silly." [55]

However, various climbers have set "speed records" on well-known and frequently climbed routes, such as Dan Osman climbing Lover's Leap via the Bear's Reach route (5.7, 120+ metre) in 4 min 25 sec. [56] The most notable of such records are listed below:

Notable non-competition records

California

The Nose, El Capitan

Regular Northwest Route, Half Dome

  • 1:53:25 Jim Herson and Hans Florine 1999.
  • 5:25 Heidi Wertz and Wera Shulte-Pelcum 2004 (all female ascent).
  • 3:58 Hans Florine solo 1999 (Full day also included El Cap).

Snake Dike, Half Dome

Joshua Tree National Park

  • 280 Routes in a day Michael Reardon solo 2004.
  • 10 climbs 100 feet tall 45 minutes free solo, Dennis George
  • 600 feet car to summit with a steep approach of half mile Idyllwild, CA
  • 10,000 feet in 24 hours Joshua Tree, CA climb for breast cancer

Colorado

Bastille Crack

  • 00:05:33 Mic Fairchild solo 1998.

Third Flatiron

Nevada

Epinephrine

Cat In The Hat

New York

The Gunks

  • 50 Routes 13:30 Peter Darmi solo 2004.
  • 46 Routes 13:30 Eric Weigeshoff and Peter Darmi 2004. 3400' of climbing and descent.
  • 51 Routes 13:30 Eric Weigeshoff and Peter Darmi 2006 3400' of climbing and descent.

Wyoming

Grand Traverse

See also

Related Research Articles

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Competition climbing is a form of regulated rock climbing competition held indoors on purpose-built artificial climbing walls. The three competition climbing disciplines are lead climbing, bouldering, and speed climbing. The result of multiple disciplines can be used in a "combined" format to determine an all-round winner. Competition climbing is sometimes called "sport climbing", which is the name given to pre-bolted lead climbing.

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Kiromal Katibin is an Indonesian competition climber who specializes in competition speed climbing. He was the world record holder in speed climbing, with a time of 5.009 seconds recorded at 2022 IFSC Climbing World Cup in Chamonix, France in July 2022, until it was broken by his compatriot Veddriq Leonardo in April 2023. He finished second overall in the men's speed category during the 2021 IFSC Climbing World Cup series. Katibin also has four career IFSC Climbing World Cup medals, all in speed.

References

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  2. ↑ "Climbing styles in traditional climbing - speed climbing". TimeOutdoors. Retrieved August 4, 2018.
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  4. ↑ "What the Hell is Speed Climbing?". Climbing Magazine. Retrieved 2018-08-03.
  5. ↑ "Event Regulations" . Retrieved 2018-08-03.
  6. ↑ Stadsvold, Jenna (2017-06-08). "What is Speed Climbing? The Basics You Need to Know". Head Rush Tech Blog. Retrieved 2018-08-03.
  7. ↑ Walker, Noah (December 23, 2021). "The Paris Olympics – A New Scoring System". Gripped. Retrieved July 7, 2022.
  8. ↑ IFSC Rules modification 2018 V1.5, April 2018
  9. ↑ "IFSC - Climbing World Championships (B,L,S) - Bern 2023".
  10. ↑ "IFSC - Climbing World Cup (Speed Men) - 2023".
  11. ↑ "IFSC - Climbing World Cup (Speed Women) - 2023".
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  13. ↑ "IFSC World Cup Wujiang 2024" . Retrieved 2024-04-12.
  14. ↑ "IFSC Speed Climbing World Records" . Retrieved 2023-04-28.
  15. ↑ International Federation of Sport Climbing [@ifsclimbing] (April 28, 2023). "A sub-5 at the IFSC World Cup in Seoul for Leonardo Veddriq" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  16. ↑ "L'Indonésien Kiromal Katibin bat encore le record du monde d'escalade de vitesse et frôle la barre des 5 secondes". L'Équipe (in French). July 8, 2022. Retrieved July 8, 2022.
  17. ↑ @ifsclimbing (June 30, 2022). "On 27 May 2021, the men's Speed world record was 5.48 seconds. Then Kiromal Katibin 🇮🇩 landed on planet Earth. @fpti_official" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  18. ↑ @ifsclimbing (June 30, 2022). "🤯 AND ANOTHA ONE!! 🤯 Kiromal Katibin 🇮🇩 tears down another barrier and set a new men's Speed world Record with 5.09 seconds!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
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  20. ↑ "IFSC Salt Lake City 2022-05-27 Men's Speed Event Page".
  21. ↑ "IFSC Seoul 2022-05-06 Men's Speed Event Page".
  22. ↑ "Speed Records".
  23. ↑ International Federation of Sport Climbing (2021-05-28), Kiromal Katibin DESTROYS the men's Speed world record!, archived from the original on 2021-12-15, retrieved 2021-05-29
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  26. ↑ International Federation of Sport Climbing (2014-09-01), IFSC Climbing World Cup Arco 2014 - Speed - Hroza Breaks World Record, archived from the original on 2021-12-15, retrieved 2017-05-22
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  28. ↑ International Federation of Sport Climbing (2012-10-18), Men's Speed Climbing World Record 5.88 - IFSC Climbing World Cup Xining 2012 - Speed, archived from the original on 2021-12-15, retrieved 2017-05-22
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  30. ↑ Olympics Games (2021-08-03), 2020 Summer Olympic Games - Men's Speed qualifier, archived from the original on 2021-08-03, retrieved 2021-08-03
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  32. ↑ "IFSC Seoul 2023 Speed Finals". YouTube .
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  37. ↑ International Federation of Sport Climbing [@ifsclimbing] (April 28, 2023). "28 APR 2023 - A 6.46 from the Polish Speed climber!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  38. ↑ "Climbing Speed World Records Women".
  39. ↑ "IFSC Salt Lake City 2022-05-27 Women's Speed Event Page".
  40. ↑ "IFSC Seoul 2022-05-06 Women's Speed Event Page".
  41. ↑ "Tokyo 2020 Speed Finale Results". Archived from the original on 2021-08-06. Retrieved 2021-08-06.
  42. ↑ International Federation of Sport Climbing (2020-11-24), Russia: Yulia Kaplina breaks speed climbing world record in Moscow, archived from the original on 2021-12-15, retrieved 2021-05-29
  43. ↑ "Aries Susati Pecahkan Rekor Dunia Panjat Tebing". CNN Indonesia. 20 October 2019.
  44. ↑ "New Women's Speed World Record by Song Yi Ling". 26 April 2019.
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  47. ↑ "Records tumble on final day of IFSC World Cup in Nanjing". 30 April 2017.
  48. ↑ "IFSC Climbing Worldcup (B,S) - Chongqing (CHN) 2017".
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  53. ↑ "Tokyo 2020 Speed Finale Results". Archived from the original on 2021-08-06. Retrieved 2021-08-06.
  54. ↑ "Tokyo 2020 Speed Qualifications Results".
  55. ↑ Speed Climbing!: How to Climb Faster and Better 2nd edition, By Hans Florine, Bill Wright Published by Globe Pequot, 2004, ISBN   0-7627-3095-1, 978-0-7627-3095-7
  56. ↑ Dan Osman- Lover's Leap
  57. ↑ "The Nose Goes Sub 2: Honnold and Caldwell Set New Record of 1:58:07". 6 June 2018.
  58. ↑ "Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell Break Nose Speed Record". 30 May 2018.
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  60. ↑ "Video: Mayan Smith-Gobat and Libby Sauter Break el Cap Speed Record". 5 February 2015.
  61. ↑ "Brad Gobright is Alex Honnold's New Nemesis". 17 March 2018.
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