The Indonesian climber won gold at Paris 2024 in the men’s Speed event.
The annual race for the Athlete of the Year award presented by The World Games will kick off in two days – on Thursday, 9 January at 12:00 (UTC) – and Indonesian climber Veddriq Leonardo is the candidate representing Climbing.
Leonardo, 27, is a six-time IFSC World Cup gold medallist, and was crowned the first-ever men’s Speed Olympic champion last Summer in Paris, France. Also at Paris 2024, Leonardo set his current personal best in the decisive gold medal race against China’s Wu Peng, stopping the clock at 4.75 seconds.
Back in 2022, the Indonesian Speed specialist took gold at the latest edition of The World Games, held in Birmingham, Alabama, USA. There, Leonardo prevailed over his longtime friend and rival Kiromal Katibin, also from Indonesia.
HOW TO VOTE
Votes may be cast via The World Games website, with a limit of one voting session per 24 hours. Each voting session must include votes for two candidates: the first-choice candidate will get two points, the second choice will get one point.
Starting from 22 January, only the 10 highest-ranked candidates will continue the race, with all vote counts reset to zero. Voting will close on 31 January at 12:00.
Throughout the entire campaign, vote tallies will be displayed in real time.
ROAD TO CHENGDU
The 12th edition of The World Games is set to take place from 7 to 17 August in Chengdu, China. Climbing will make its sixth consecutive appearance in the sports programme, with six medal events in the Speed discipline scheduled between Thursday 14 and Saturday 16.
The list of qualified nations is available on the IFSC website.
News and updates about The World Games Chengdu 2025 and all IFSC events 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 and Weibo.
