If Japan dominated the U16 Lead competition, then China certainly took the baton to dominate in Speed at the 2023 IFSC Climbing Youth World Championships.
Winning five of the six medals on offer at the Seoul Mountain Climbing & Culture Center in the U16 age group, the Chinese climbers showed their strength and depth in their squad, but one Ukrainian climber was on hand to spoil the party.
Polina Khalkevych held her nerve throughout the finals round, and despite some tense moments, took the gold in the women’s competition. Up against Huang Xinyi of China, both climbers slipped in the final race, but whereas the Chinese athlete came off the wall, Khalkevych held on to tap for gold.
It meant Xinyi had to settle for the silver medal, and she was joined by teammate Lin Jiayi on the podium who claimed bronze by beating Italy’s Eva Mengoli in the small final.
Full women’s U16 Speed results can be found here
Photo: Dimitris Tosidis/IFSC
Going from two on a podium to three, the Chinese men dominated with quick times throughout the competition.
In the final Zhao Yicheng came out full of confidence and gestured to the crowd to make some noise. In comparison, teammate Xu Jianxun was fully focused. It was Zhao who was celebrating though at the end as he tapped at 5.79 as Xu fell.
In the small final, Yu Zexuan stayed ahead of Austria’s Maximilian Wagner to take the bronze. Throughout finals Yu was hovering around the six second mark and need to break that to take his place on the podium. He tapped at 5.92.
Full men’s U16 Speed results can be found here
Photo: Dimitris Tosidis/IFSC
Speed will continue on Wednesday 23 August with the U20’s whilst today the final of the men’s and women’s U20 Lead will close the Youth Worlds Lead competition.