Speed medals were secured on the first day of competition in the French Alps in front of a 10,000-spectator crowd on the streets of Chamonix. After qualification was postponed due to storms on Friday, Saturday entertained the crowds with Speed qualification, finals after Lead qualification earlier in the day.

In the women’s Speed, China’s Zhang Shaoqin won her first IFSC World Cup gold medal after making her way through the finals rounds to set up a finale against Poland’s Natalia Kalucka.

In the final match-up, Kalucka fell to hand her rival the gold and herself having to settle for silver. Zhang posted a 6.60 in the big final and said: "First of all, I’m so happy. I broke my personal best. I really like this place, it’s my happy place."

Silver medallist Kalucka said: "I’m happy because it’s my first medal in Chamonix and I am proud of myself. Not getting that Olympic ticket means now I don’t really have my goals set so I will go to Briançon as I don’t have many competitions left this year. I’ll be in Paris though to support my sister and do some work with the Polish Federation."

South Korea’s Jeong Jimin completed the podium winning the bronze medal, her second podium after also winning bronze in Wujiang at the start of the season.

Jeong beat China’s Wang Shengyan in the small final with a time of 6.64 compared to Wang’s 7.33.

Full women’s Speed results here

World record holder, USA’s Sam Watson won gold in Chamonix, giving him his third gold of his career.

Watson had a consistent run during the finals rounds and posted three times under 5-seconds in the competition - 4.83, 4.84, 4.88.

The American climber beat China’s Wang Xinshang, who had to settle for the silver medal with both slipping in the final and posting times of 6.24 for Watson and 7.76 for Wang.

Talking about his consistency Watson said: "I’ve been working on my consistency with a boring two months training, well boring is not the right word, but tedious training cycle where I tried to work hard every day and I was looking forward to this trip so much. Having consistent 4.8’s and near the world record is a dream for sure and shows I am in the right place."

When talking about his win, Watson continued: "I feel great. I kind of had a Chamonix curse where I didn’t do well for the past two years, my worst comp of the year, but then to come back in my last event before the Olympics and get a win, my third win, in front of all these people that came out was just one of the best experiences as a climber.”

Third place and the bronze medal went to Spain’s Erik Noya Cardona who took advantage of a slip and fall from Japan’s Omasa Ryo in the bronze medal match.

Posting a 5.05 in that match up, Noya Cardona said: "It’s my second medal in Chamonix. This place has a lot of meaning for me, this is the competition I like the most. After I didn’t qualify for the Olympics it was hard for me so being back on the podium, trusting myself, gaining some confidence, breaking my record, it was huge for me. It was something unexpected but something I really needed. It is really a push for me, for Spain, and I am really happy about this and I will go and party a bit today – I think I deserve it."

Omasa had earlier set a PB and Japanese National record with 4.97, and there were other records that fell in the qualifications round.

Italy’s Matteo Zurloni set the European record with 4.97, New Zealand’s Julian David set the Oceania record with 5.44 and South Africa’s Joshua Bruyns set the African record with 5.73.

Full men’s Speed results here

News and updates about the event will be available on the IFSC website and on the Federation’s digital channels: Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, LinkedIn, and exclusively for the Chinese audience, Douyin and Weibo.