The IFSC World Cup in Briançon, France kicked off with Speed qualifications, with new faces and recent winners making their way to the final rounds.
The final IFSC World Cup event before the Olympic Games Paris 2024 commenced in Briançon, France, with the women’s and men’s Speed qualification rounds.
Chinese specialist Zhang Shaoqin – winner of the women’s Speed event at the IFSC World Cup in Chamonix, France, last week – placed atop the ranking with 6.64 seconds, and will aim at pocketing her second consecutive World Cup gold.
Five more athletes recorded qualification times below the seven-second mark, including Poland’s Natalia Kalucka – winner of the silver medal in Chamonix – and Italy’s Giulia Randi, who updated her personal best with a 6.85 run.
For the women’s Speed qualification complete results click here.
In the men’s event that followed, another future Paris 2024 Olympian – Kazakhstan’s Amir Maimuratov – placed first with his new personal best: 4.96 seconds.
Second with 4.97 was Italy’s reigning Speed world champion Matteo Zurloni, who equalled the European record he set just four days ago in Chamonix, France.
Speaking of continental records, Julian David of New Zealand finally broke into the top 16 with a stunning 5.26, breaking once again the Oceania record and guaranteeing himself the best result of his young career.
“I thought the first run was pretty good – a new personal best, Oceania and New Zealand record already with the 5.40, so was happy already with that run. Then usually if you have a good first qualifying run the second you can kind of let the cat out of the bag and go full beans, so I did and managed 5.26 seconds run to get me into 11th heading into my first finals here in Briançon. I’m super proud and can’t wait for my first finals experience and see what happens,” said David.
Qualifying for tonight’s final in 16th position was Bassa Mawem of France – winner of last year’s European Qualifier in Rome, Italy, and competing in his first World Cup event since Chamonix 2023. Mawem, who will turn 40 in November, stopped the clock at 5.33, just one hundredth ahead of his 19-year-old teammate Jérôme Morel.
For the men’s Speed qualification complete results click here.
The IFSC World Cup Briançon 2024 will continue tonight with Speed finals, starting at 20:00 (UTC+2:00) and streaming live on the IFSC YouTube channel.
News and updates about all IFSC events 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.