Emma Hunt of the USA and Omasa Ryo of Japan claimed the women\u2019s and men\u2019s Speed titles respectively at the World Climbing Series Chongqing, delivering two thrilling finals on the opening day of the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One week after being eliminated in the quarter-final in Guiyang, China, Hunt returned to the top of the podium in Chongqing with a series of consistently fast performances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The USA climber saved her fastest run for the gold medal race, clocking 6.13 seconds, while also recording two more times below the 6.20-mark: 6.18 in the quarter-final and 6.16 in the semi-final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
China\u2019s Zhang Shaoqin took silver with a new personal best of 6.30, while Italy\u2019s Giulia Randi completed the podium in 6.53 to claim the second medal of her career and season, following her silver at the World Climbing Series Chamonix 2026 last July.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leslie Adriana Romero P\u00e9rez of Spain finished fourth after slipping early in the medal race and being unable to recover, stopping the clock at 8.04.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hunt was pleased to put the disappointment of Guiyang behind her and arrive at the final event with a renewed mindset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said: \u201cI\u2019m feeling really good, very excited, and very tired! I\u2019m really happy to have fine-tuned some mental issues that were going on in Guiyang. Also, I think physically I felt better at this competition. It\u2019s a hard one coming exactly 12 hours opposite of where I live, so I\u2019m really happy to have put it together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men\u2019s Speed title went to Japan\u2019s Omasa Ryo, who claimed his first World Climbing gold after six previous podium finishes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Omasa saved his two fastest runs for the business end of the competition, clocking 4.78 seconds in the final to defeat home favourite Zhao Yicheng. The Chinese climber slipped halfway through his climb and had to settle for bronze despite producing three impressive runs earlier in the competition, with times of 4.80, 4.71 and 4.67.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Germany\u2019s Leander Carmanns took silver in 4.90, earning his second World Climbing medal and his second in China after winning silver in Guiyang in 2025. China\u2019s Li Xu finished fourth after stopping the clock at 6.35.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For Omasa, the long-awaited victory came just before he heads to the Asian Games: \u201cI\u2019m really happy but I\u2019m also really surprised. It was a tough competition with a lot of fast climbers. Winning my first gold here just before I go to the Asian Games really gives me a lot of confidence for that competition.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Emma Hunt of the USA and Omasa Ryo of Japan claimed the women\u2019s and men\u2019s Speed titles respectively<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15896,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[412,102],"class_list":["post-15895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-speed","tag-sport-climbing"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t