Speed, Women

The event featured a highly competitive field, with several athletes emerging as strong favorites. Leading the pack was Poland’s Aleksandra Mirosław, the world record holder and a dominant force in the sport. Having broken her own record multiple times, she entered the Olympic Games in Paris as the clear frontrunner and the climber to beat.

Other major contenders were Desak Made Rita Kusuma Dewi of Indonesia (2023 world champion), American Emma Hunt (2023 World Championships silver medalist), and China’s Deng Lijuan with her personal best of 6.41 seconds (World Cup in Briançon, France).

The event faced challenges, including a major delay caused by a technical malfunction with the electronic timer. In a race between Piper Kelly (USA) and Zhou Yafei (CHN), the timer failed to register Zhou’s touch, leading to an incorrect result. Officials paused the event for 20 minutes to address the issue, allowing the affected climbers to make solo attempts to record fair times. When the competition resumed, Mirosław’s record-breaking ascent became a defining moment of the Games, becoming the inaugural Olympic champion in this discipline, completing the 15-meter wall in 6.10 seconds.

Deng (CHN) captured the silver, 0.08 seconds behind Mirosław, but with a personal best of 6.18 seconds, while Poland’s Aleksandra Kałucka, the 2022 European Championships silver medalist, who lost to teammate Mirosław in the semi-finals (despite setting a personal best time of 6.34 seconds), joined her countrywoman on the podium, with bronze.