The home team secured two golds and one silver in two Speed events in Salt Lake City.
An action-packed competition day in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, closed with Team USA pocketing two Speed World Cup golds with Emma Hunt and Samuel Watson.
Hunt finally claimed the brightest medal after podiuming five times in second or third place, besting Poland’s Aleksandra Kalucka in the gold medal race and signing another Pan American record in the semi-final against China’s Deng Lijuan with 6.41 seconds.
“I’m just so excited, Salt Lake City is kind of like a second home, so it feels like a home-turfy win, and I got to do it with Samuel which is so exciting! I have so many rituals I go through in my competition that there is no time to list them all… I can’t wait to go to Paris, can’t wait to try croissants and all the food!” Hunt commented.
Deng also placed on the podium, winning a neck-and-neck bronze medal race against Aleksandra’s sister Natalia: Deng stopped the clock at 6.94 and Kalucka at 7.14.
For the women’s Speed complete results click here.
In the men’s Speed event, Samuel Watson displayed a sensational series of races, recording three sub-5s out of four, and flirting with another world record after he stopped the clock at 4.81 in the semi-final against world champion Matteo Zurloni of Italy.
In the second semi-final, Watson’s teammate Noah Bratschi took advantage of Austria’s Kevin Amon falling halfway through the route.
Watson then bested Bratschi in the battle for gold with a 4.89-second race, while Amon took third place at the end of his bronze medal race against Zurloni.
“I am so happy to be here in front of my new home turf, as I moved to Salt Lake City only about ten days ago. I am so excited to share this moment with Noah Bratschi and Emma Hunt. But I’m not done yet, world records are coming, faster times are coming, I’m happy with my consistency, but I’m not taking the foot off the gas for sure,” Watson said.
For the men’s Speed complete results click here.
The IFSC World Cup in Salt Lake City will conclude tomorrow with the women’s Boulder event: the semi-final is set to start at 10:00 (UTC-6:00) and the final at 18:00.
News and updates about the event will be available on the IFSC website, and on the Federation’s digital channels: Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, and exclusively for the Chinese audience, Douyin and Weibo.
