Speed climbing returns to the city where the magic sub-5 seconds first lit up the timing clock on the IFSC world stage. The previously elusive time has since been lowered and is a regular occurrence in World Cups with 2025 hitting new, well lows, when it comes to Speed times.
Back in 2023 at the IFSC World Cup Seoul Indonesia’s Veddriq Leonardo took the men’s world record to under the five second mark, and Aleksandra Miroslaw lowered the women’s four times, and as the IFSC returns to the city of speed the times for both men and women have never been lower and the competition for podiums places closer.
Heading into the IFSC Climbing and Para Climbing World Championships 2025, Leonardo and women’s world champion Desak Dewi will not be in Seoul as the Indonesian Speed team are not attending, but that doesn’t mean the action will stop.
World record holders Sam Watson and Aleksandra Miroslaw will be looking to lower their times even further, and while Watson has lowered the sub-5 to 4.64s for the men, Miroslaw will be aiming for a sub-6 in the women with her current record standing at 6.06s.
The Polish climber has a score to settle when it comes to the World Championships. She finished third in Bern in 2023 and was devastated to not only miss out on the title, but at the time a place at Paris 2024. Bouncing to compete at the Olympics, she won gold and hit the world record, a feat she will be hoping to repeat.
Watson made his world record at the IFSC World Cup Bali at the start of the year, but his rivals are coming for that time. Seeing a sub-5 is becoming common place, and the newest member to club is Ukraine’s Yaroslav Tkach who set a European record of 4.86s at the last World Cup before Seoul.
In that World Cup in Guiyang, China there was also new names to add to the medal winners list. China’s Chu Shouhong. took his first ever medal, and it was a golden one, and so did Germany’s Leander Carmanns who took bronze by beating Tkach. A good World Champs warm-up for all.
Maybe flying a little under the radar at Bern 2023, Matteo Zurloni navigated the competition to become the world champion, and that means this time around there’s no hiding – although it hasn’t been the best lead-up to the event for the Italian: “2025 until now has been a difficult season. It’s been full of things I want, yet so many difficulties sometimes in finding the right motivation.
“I tried to improve technique a lot in winter and lost a bit of time where I could have trained my speed, but it was a choice and a little sacrifice for the next years too. Then I got an injury in Denver when I was probably at my peak and suffered a bit.”
That was 2025 for Zurloni, but what about right now just days out from the World Championships?
“Now I’m recovering well and finding that fire in me that is helping me through the training and getting back in shape. I feel pretty good right now.”
Last World Championships Zurloni didn’t have the expectation on him that he now has due to the world champion tag, and he knows it: “There’s for sure a little bit more pressure than my first World Championships. But I’m trying get back to the same feelings I got back then, face the comp as a challenger more than as the actual person to beat.
“I know there are so many athletes that are currently stronger than me. I know that I can bring a lot, and I’ll just be confident about that and try my best. After the competitions this year I would like to show to the world that I’m still a possible contender to the title, maybe not the favourite, but that I’m there. I want to have fun and show what I have.”
Other possible contenders in the men’s competition will be the likes of China’s Wu Peng who has an Olympic medal to his name and teammate Long Jianguo who won the first World Cup of the season.
Japan’s Omasa Ryo has had a good year winning multiple World Cup medals on his way to third in the overall series and Watson’s American teammate Zach hammer has also visited the podium on multiple occasions.
Rishat Khaibullin was just off the podium in fourth in Bern and both he and his Kazakhstani compatriot Amir Maimuratov will look to capitalise on their Olympic experiences.
Another Olympian in action is the Oceania record holder New Zealand’s Julian David, but with 2025 producing six of the top seven fastest qualifying times at World Cups, even he will have his work cut out to make it to the top 16 for finals.
When it comes to the Olympic Games, climbers have dealt with the summer showpiece in different ways. From taking time out to carrying on through, from physical to mental fatigue. Everyone has been different.
For Capucine Viglione, a home Games experience was something she had to deal with such: “Honestly, it’s been quite a complicated season. After the Olympics, I struggled a bit mentally and I had very little motivation. I’m still trying to find a new way of working that suits me better, so that I can live my next Olympic experience in the best possible way.
“On top of that, I had to manage a long internship for my studies, which made training more difficult, and I also had a lot of personal questions and doubts that slowed me down in competitions.”
Viglione hasn’t done many World Cup’s in 2025 and featured a little closer to home in European Cup’s, but she has had success with a medal of each colour.
“It’s true, I did fewer World Cups this year compared to previous seasons when I usually did all of them. I just didn’t feel ready to travel to China just a few days after finishing my internship, so I decided to start my season in Bali instead.
“That competition was really tough for me emotionally, my first international event since the Olympics, and a lot of feelings came back. After Bali, I chose not to compete in Krakow to give myself some time to breathe and recover, so I could arrive in good shape for Chamonix, which is a special event for me because it’s in France.”
Needed a bit of a reset and finding the right headspace meant European rather than World events, but that doesn’t mean that the competition was any different for Viglione: “I really focused on the European Cups, that was my main goal. Those competitions allowed me to enjoy climbing fast and to face strong athletes while progressing through rounds. I think that’s the way I learn the most. I’ve gained a lot from those experiences, and now I feel ready to put it all into practice in Seoul.”
On the World Cup stage, the Chinese athletes have been showing their strength once again with Zhang Shaoqin, Zhao Yufei, Deng Lijuan and Meng Shixue all winning medals. On top of her medals, Deng also won The World Games gold and has an Olympic medal to her name.
Alongside Poland’s Miroslaw will be Natalia Kalucka who took a silver this season, while other Europeans in the mix will be Italy’s Beatrice Colli and Guilia Randi, and Spain’s Olympian Leslie Romero Pérez.
Looking at the IFSC World Cup series winner, Emma Hunt has been on good form yet again winning four medals, including one gold, to take the overall title. She is joined by fellow American Olympian Piper Kelly.
Something for the home crowd in the women’s event, five South Korean climbers will be in action with Jeong Jimin the standout name. Jeong has been close to winning gold taking silver twice this year, but the Korean regular makes finals and goes deep into competitions.
Just like the men’s competition, the women’s qualification times have dropped throughout 2025, and Viglione isn’t surprised and is expecting more of the same in Seoul: “I think the world record will fall for sure! I mean every competition is getting faster and faster, it’s crazy how fast this is going.
Setting her sights on Seoul, Viglione said: “My goal is to climb faster than I ever have before, to make it through rounds, and most importantly, to enjoy myself. About my rivals, I know I can expect some very fast times. The World Championships is the competition we all look forward to, and most of the time it brings out the best in everyone.”
The women will compete first in Seoul with the qualification and the finals on Wednesday 24 September and the men’s qualification and finals the following day on Thursday 25 September.