China once again showed their strength and depth in Speed by adding another three medals from the U20 competition to their impressive IFSC Youth World Championships 2024 medal haul.

A gold for Mou Yuju in the womens, as well as another silver and bronze for the nation, took their medal tally up to eleven out of a possible 18 on offer in the Speed discipline across the three age groups.

In the men’s discipline however it was France who ruled the roost as Jérôme Morel made his way through some stiff competition for the top step of the podium.

The final four women included two Chinese climbers, Mou and teammate Zhang Tianxiang, so they knew at least one medal would be staying at home. But when both won their semi-finals, it guaranteed two would be added to the total.

The gold medal match was a close affair with Yuju coming out on top with a 6.89s run compared to silver medallist Zhang’s 6.98.

The beaten semi-finalists, Indonesia’s Wijaya Berliana Puteri and Ukraine’s Daria Tkachova, fought it out for the bronze medal and final spot on the podium, and it was Puteri who took the honour with a 7.34s time compared to Tkachova’s 8.18.

There was another Chinese medal in the mens, but this time it was bronze as Morel took advantage of a fall by Zhou Ziyu in their semi-final to move into the gold medal race at his expense.

Morel then beat Poland’s Oskar Szalecki – 5.49s v 5.63s – to take the gold leaving Szalecki with silver.

After his win Morel said: “I’m on cloud nine. I didn’t actually believe it until I heard the team singing "La Marseillaise". It was very emotional.

“I knew the competitors were very quick and strong, but I knew I could be quick and strong as well. I went through the competition just doing my best and not caring about everything else, and it worked out.”

In his semi-final Szalecki beat Italy’s Marco Rontini who was then matched up with Zhou with the Chinese climber winning a very close bronze medal match 5.28s to 5.32s.

Both Lead and Speed are now complete at the 2024 Youth Worlds with just one final day of competition to go and the U16 Boulder title to be decided.

Full results for the Youth Worlds can be found here - https://ifsc.hopp.to/YW24results