Leonardo and Barashchuk speed top in Switzerland final
Russian Ekaterina Barashchuk and Veddriq Leonardo of Indonesia finished top in the women’s and men’s sport climbing speed event finals on Friday at the fifth stop of the Climbing World Cup series in Switzerland, the third-to-last tour date before the sport’s Olympic debut in Tokyo.
Sport Climbing
Veddriq Leonardo and Ekaterina Barashchuk reached the summit of the men’s and women’s speed finals of the sport climbing World Cup series event in Switzerland.
The men’s and women’s speed finals, which consist of two climbers racing on an identical route up a 15m-high wall set at a 95-degree angle, were hotly contested on Friday in what is the 2021 World Cup’s fifth tour stop (of 18 total).
Ekaterina Barashchuk finished first on the women’s side with her Russian compatriot Yulia Kaplina right behind her and Poland’s Patrycja Chudziak securing third place. Veddriq Leonardo (Indonesia) was king of the wall on the men’s side of competition in Villars on Friday, with Russian Dmitrii Timofeev climbing into second behind him and third being scooped by Kiromal Katibin (Indonesia) in the small-final.
A crazy race
“A big thank you to everyone who supported me,” said Leonardo after the event. “I’m so glad to get a gold medal and I’m thrilled with the result in this great competition.”
“It’s a crazy race for me,” added Barashchuk. “It’s my first world cup final and my first win. I have to thank my mother and my coach -- we are going to celebrate tonight !”
The event concludes tomorrow with the Men's and Women's Lead semi-finals and finals – the most endurance-heavy of the three Olympic Sport Climbing disciplines.
Two more events before the Games
Only two more events remain on the World Cup tour (both in France) before the start of the Tokyo 2020 Games in 2021, on 23 July, leaving precious little time for the Tokyo-bound climbers to hone their skills, extend their heights and tighten their times before the sports Olympic debut.
The Olympic Sport Climbing competition runs from 3 to 6 August at the Aomi Urban Sports Park, on the shores of Tokyo Bay, with three distinct disciplines of the sport (speed, bouldering and lead) highlighted in separate competitions.
In all, there will be 40 sport climbing athletes in Tokyo, with 20 men and 20 women aiming to claim one of the six medals up for grabs.