SANTIAGO, Chile, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- China's Zhao Yicheng and Deng Lijuan won the men's and women's speed climbing titles at the World Climbing Series season finale in Santiago on Saturday, with world record holder Zhao also securing the men's overall season crown.
The 17-year-old Zhao finished only 12th in qualification but improved steadily through the knockout rounds, clocking 5.00, 4.81 and 4.79 seconds from the round of 16 to the semifinals.
He then won the gold medal race in 4.74 seconds, beating Indonesia's Raharjati Nursamsa.
Zhao said after the race that his disappointing qualifying performance had made him nervous, but advancing to the last 16 helped him regain his form and start enjoying the competition. He said he was satisfied with his final performance.
China's Chu Shouhong, fresh from winning gold at the Nagoya Asian Games, narrowly missed the podium in the bronze medal race. He clocked 4.96 seconds, losing to Japan's Ryo Omasa by 0.02 seconds.
Zhao made his World Climbing Series debut this season, winning two golds, one silver and one bronze across six events. He also set the men's speed climbing world record of 4.54 seconds at the season opener.
Omasa finished second in the men's overall standings, with Nursamsa third.
In the women's competition, Deng beat world record holder Emma Hunt of the United States in the gold medal race with a time of 6.38 seconds.
Deng, the silver medalist at the Paris 2024 Olympics, said she was delighted to win gold at the final event of the year. She said she had struggled early in the season and only began to show her true level in the final two events.
In the bronze medal race, Isis Rothfork of the United States clocked 7.32 seconds to beat China's Mou Yuju for third place.
Hunt finished atop the women's overall standings, ahead of Ukraine's Polina Khalkevych and Indonesia's Desak Made Rita Kusuma Dewi, the women's speed champion at the Nagoya Asian Games.
The Santiago event, held in Chile for the first time, attracted nearly 400 climbers from 95 countries and regions. It is the final stop of the 2026 World Climbing Series for speed and lead climbing.
The lead competition concludes on Sunday with the semifinals and finals. Slovenia's Janja Garnbret, a two-time Olympic champion, will seek her third individual title of the season. ■
