On October 11, Beijing time, the 2013 IFSC Speed Climbing World Cup in Mokpo, South Korea, concluded. Zhong Qixin, captain of China’s national climbing team and a Red Bull-sponsored athlete, triumphed over the world’s top two ranked climbers — Russia’s Stanislav KOKORIN and the Czech Republic’s Libor Hroza — securing the championship with a time of 6.05 seconds. This marks Zhong’s first international climbing competition victory this year, and his World Cup annual ranking has now risen to third place.
The Mokpo leg was the fifth stop of the 2013 IFSC Speed Climbing World Cup, attracting a total of 24 of the world’s top climbers. All of the top 10 ranked athletes were in attendance, making for an intense competition. As a four-time world champion, Zhong Qixin had a smooth run in this event. From the qualifiers to the semifinals, although his times in each round weren’t the fastest among all competitors, the competition format — head-to-head knockout rounds — meant that advancing simply required beating the opponent in your group.
The real battle began in the finals, where Zhong faced the current world No. 2, Czech climber Libor Hroza. In the first four World Cup stops of this year, Zhong had lost to Hroza three times, most notably at the Italian leg on September 8, where noise from the audience’s horns disrupted his focus and led to a heartbreaking loss. In speed climbing, each round lasts only about six seconds, with margins of victory sometimes as slim as one-hundredth of a second. Especially when the world’s top athletes face off, the outcome is often unpredictable. “The top-ranked climbers right now are all quite evenly matched; it really comes down to performance in each match,” said Zhong Qixin. “Compared to Libor, I’m not as tall, but I’m more agile. There’s not much difference in strength — wins and losses are all within reason.” In the end, Zhong beat his rival with a time of 6.05 seconds to claim the title, while Libor Hroza finished as runner-up with a time of 6.28 seconds.
With his first individual victory of the year, Zhong Qixin has climbed to third in both the World Cup annual rankings and the overall world rankings. Across the five World Cup speed climbing events held so far this year, Zhong has secured one gold, one silver, and two bronze medals. Next, he will return to compete on home soil in the final two legs — in Wujiang and Haiyang, China — as he aims to claim his first ever IFSC Speed Climbing World Cup overall title.