The home nation led the way in the women’s competition with Meng Shixue posting the best time of qualification to head a total of nine Chinese athletes set to contest the finals.
Meng, who won the U19 youth world title earlier in the year, posted a personal best time of 6.37s and led teammate Zhou Yafei who was in second spot with a 6.47s run.
With a home World Championships just days away, Jeong Jimin will hope for some success in China before she heads home, and the South Korean climber moved into finals with a time of 6.49s and the third-place spot.
USA’s Emma Hunt was fourth with a time of 6.52s and she will be joined by teammate Isis Rothfork who had the 15th best time of 7.19s.
For Rothfork, there was a sense of relief to make the finals round with a bit of self-appointed pressure on her: “I’m happy to make the final for sure because it’s always hard when you don’t have a good first run because its tense on the second. It’s not my best runs but with everything considered I’m not super disappointed. I just need to refocus and try to have a good result.”
Current world champion Desak Dewi of Indonesia progressed to the finals round with a time of 6.68s. Dewi’s eighth place was the best from her nation, but she is joined by teammates Rajiah Sallsabillah and Puja Lestari for a shot at a podium.
Sallsabillah took some time out after Paris 2024 to undergo surgery on her back and is slowly getting her rhythm again following the lay-off: “My performance has been better this competition than the last so I’m happy because it’s a new best time for me after my surgery. My times are getting better.”
Looking ahead to the finals Sallsabillah said: “I’ll be trying hard for tomorrow, but the level is very high as all the people are excited and going quick.”
The 16th and final climber to progress was Japan’s Koyamatsu Ren with a time of 7.23s.
WOMEN’S FINALISTS
1 MENG Shixue (CHN) 6.37
2 ZHOU Yafei (CHN) 6.47
3 JEONG Jimin (KOR) 6.49
4 Emma HUNT (USA) 6.52
5 WANG Shengyan (CHN) 6.58
6 MOU Yuju (CHN) 6.62
7 ZHANG Tianxiang(CHN) 6.65
8 Desak MADE RITA KUSUMA DEWI (INA) 6.68
9 QIN Yumei (CHN) 6.73
10 ZHANG Shaoqin(CHN) 6.77
11 Rajiah SALLSABILLAH (INA) 6.88
12 ZHANG Mengli (CHN) 7.02
13 SHI Xinyue (CHN) 7.14
14 Puja LESTARI (INA) 7.15
15 Isis ROTHFORK (USA) 7.19
16 KOYAMATSU Ren (JPN) 7.23
Full women’s results can be found here
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