The eyes of the Speed Climbing world will all by on the Yangtze River Delta for the next three days, as the first Speed competition of the IFSC World Cup Series 2025 is scheduled to take place at the Fenhu Culture and Sports Center.

The women’s and men’s Speed world records have been broken multiple times in 2024, with the two currently standing records both being set at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 last August. Samuel Watson of the USA stopped the clock at 4.74 in his bronze medal-winning race, while Aleksandra Miroslaw of Poland hit the finish pad at 6.06 seconds in the seeding phase of the qualification round.

“The off-season started with a month-long break after the Olympics,” said Watson. “I did some great traveling and had some amazing experiences, but having not taken a more-than-a-week break in three years, the fitness definitely went down. It took a few months to get back to where I was and even more to get better. This season is going to be great, I’m aiming to peak for the first two World Cups and for the World Championships,”

Ealier in 2024, Watson also set two men’s Speed world records in Wujiang, breaking the previous barrier in both of his qualifcation races: first with 4.85 seconds, then with 4.79. He commented: “I know the world record will continue to be broken from my perspective, I don’t control what the other athletes do, but I’ve put a lot of work in through the off-season and I’m ready to push the times down.”

Paris 2024 silver medallist Wu Peng of China will not compete in Wujiang due to an injury. The Chinese home team will still be represented by a talented pool of men’s Speed specialist, including 18-year-old debutant Shi Zechuan and two-time World Cup gold medallist Long Jianguo.

Watson, along with many other top-level Speed climbers, will travel back to China next August to compete at The World Games Chengdu 2025. “I’m so excited and stoked to compete both in Speed Relay, where there’s an actual team discipline for Climbing, and in the 4-lane format at Chengdu 2025!”

Starting in the women’s Speed event at Wujiang 2025 will be Polish 31-year-old Miroslaw – owner of the last 10 world records in the female category.

The Paris 2024 champion will headline an entry list that also includes her rival in the gold medal race at last Summer’s Olympics – China’s Deng Lijuan – and fellow Polish specialist Natalia Kalucka.

Also picking up following their experience at the Paris Olympics will be Beatrice Colli of Italy, Leslie Adriana Romero Pérez of Spain, and Pan American record holder Emma Hunt of the USA.

The schedule of the Speed competition in Wujiang is as follows:

Friday, 25 April (UTC+8:00):
19:00 – Speed qualifications

Saturday, 26 April: 
19:30 – Speed finals

News and updates about the event will be available on the IFSC 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.