Speed climbing

Speed climbing is a climbing discipline in which speed is the ultimate goal.Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills, Swan Hill Press; 6th Revised edition (14 Oct 1997) ,978-1-84037-001-0 Speed climbing is done on rocks, walls and poles and is only recommended for highly skilled and experienced climbers.

Competition speed climbing, which takes place on an artificial and standardized climbing wall, is the main form of speed climbing. However, there are types of speed climbing that take place outdoors, such as climbing famous big wall climbing routes in the shortest times, notable examples being on El Capitan in Yosemite National Park.

Competition speed climbing

Competition speed climbing as governed by the International Federation of Sport Climbing (World Climbing) takes place on artificial walls. Competitors climb a 5-degree overhanging IFSC-certified wall, with an auto-belaying system from the top of the wall.

Since 2007 the IFSC has created a standard wall for the world record. The standard has a simple rule and it involves climbers competing on the same route, side by side, and whoever reaches the top first wins. The holds and order are always identical, and the difficulty rating is around F6b (approximately YDS 5.10c), which is a level most recreational climbers could complete. The IFSC also sanctions speed climbing competitions and those events that entail world record attempts. Speed climbing was one of the three climbing modalities included in the combined format at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, along with lead and bouldering. Beginning at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, speed climbing has been its own standalone competition, separate from the lead and bouldering combined event.

Time is determined by mechanical-electric timing (the competitor leaves the starting pad and strikes a switch at the top of the route). When mechanical-electric timing is used, the climbing time is displayed with an accuracy of one-hundredth of a second. In the rules modifications in 2018, the possibility to use manual timing was removed, and the mechanical-electric timing should record with a precision of 1/1000 second. This precision is only used for ranking in case of a tie. Further, the timing system needs to announce a false start, which is considered a start with less than 0.1 seconds of reaction time after the starting beep.

World champions The defending men's and women's speed climbing world champions are Long Jianguo of China and Aleksandra Mirosław of Poland, respectively; they won their respective speed events at the 2025 IFSC Climbing World Championships in Seoul, South Korea. Kiromal Katibin of Indonesia and Emma Hunt of USA were the overall men's and women's winners for the 2025 IFSC Climbing World Cup speed series.

World and Olympic records

Since Qixin Zhong of China ran the 15-meter standardized wall in 6.26 seconds in 2011, the world record has been broken 20 times. The record has been broken thirteen times since 2021, most recently 4.58 seconds by Zhao Yicheng of China in April 2026 at the Asian Beach Games in Sanya, China. That represents a drop of 26.8 percent since 2011.

Similarly, the women's speed climbing record has been broken 20 times since 2013, nine times since 2021, dropping from 7.85 seconds to the 6.06 seconds set by Aleksandra Mirosław of Poland in August 2024, a 22.8-percent reduction.

+Men's World Record HistoryDateTime (s)PersonLocationCompetitionAugust 27, 20116.26 Zhong QixinArco, ItalyWorld ChampionshipsOctober 13, 20125.88 Evgenii VaitcekhovskiiXining, ChinaWorld CupAugust 30, 20145.76 Libor HrozaArco, ItalyWorld CupAugust 31, 20145.73 Arco, ItalyWorld CupSeptember 12, 20145.60 Danyil BoldyrevGijón, SpainWorld ChampionshipsApril 30, 20175.48 Reza AlipourNanjing, ChinaWorld CupMay 28, 20215.25 Kiromal KatibinSalt Lake City, USWorld CupMay 28, 20215.20 Veddriq LeonardoSalt Lake City, USWorld CupMay 6, 20225.17 Kiromal KatibinSeoul, South KoreaWorld CupMay 27, 20225.10 Kiromal KatibinSalt Lake City, USWorld CupJune 30, 20225.09 Kiromal KatibinVillars, SwitzerlandWorld CupJune 30, 20225.04 Kiromal KatibinVillars, SwitzerlandWorld CupJuly 8, 20225.009 Kiromal KatibinChamonix, FranceWorld CupApril 28, 20234.984 Veddriq LeonardoSeoul, South KoreaWorld CupApril 28, 20234.90 Veddriq LeonardoSeoul, South KoreaWorld CupApril 12, 20244.798 Samuel WatsonWujiang, ChinaWorld CupApril 12, 20244.859 Samuel WatsonWujiang, ChinaWorld CupAugust 6, 20244.75 Samuel WatsonParis, France OlympicsAugust 8, 20244.74 Samuel WatsonParis, France OlympicsMay 3, 20254.67 Samuel WatsonBali, Indonesia World CupMay 3, 20254.64 Samuel WatsonBali, IndonesiaWorld CupApril 28, 20264.58 Zhao YichengSanya, China Asian Beach GamesMay 10, 20264.54 Zhao YichengWujiang, ChinaWorld Climbing Series

+Men's Olympic Record HistoryDateTime (s)PersonLocationGamesAugust 3, 20215.45 Bassa MawemAomi Urban Sports Park, Tokyo, JapanTokyo 2020August 6, 20244.79 Veddriq LeonardoParis, FranceParis 2024August 6, 20244.75 Samuel WatsonParis, FranceParis 2024August 8, 20244.74 Samuel WatsonParis, FranceParis 2024

+Women's World Record HistoryDateTime (s)PersonLocationCompetitionOctober 19, 20137.85 Iuliia KaplinaWujiang, ChinaWorld CupMay 17, 20157.74 Iuliia KaplinaCentral Saanich, CanadaWorld CupJune 21, 20157.56 Iuliia KaplinaChongqing, ChinaWorld CupJuly 11, 20157.53 Iuliia KaplinaChamonix, FranceWorld CupApril 23, 20177.46 Iuliia KaplinaChongqing, ChinaWorld CupApril 30, 20177.38 Iuliia KaplinaNanjing, ChinaWorld CupJuly 22, 20177.32 Iuliia KaplinaWrocław, PolandWorld GamesApril 22, 20187.32 Anouck JaubertMoscow, RussiaWorld CupApril 26, 20197.10 Song YilingChongqing, ChinaWorld CupOctober 19, 20196.99 Aries Susanti RahayuXiamen, ChinaWorld CupNovember 21, 20206.96 Iuliia KaplinaMoscow, RussiaEuropean ChampionshipsAugust 6, 20216.84 Aleksandra MirosławTokyo, JapanOlympic GamesMay 6, 20226.64 Aleksandra MirosławSeoul, South KoreaWorld CupMay 27, 20226.53 Aleksandra MirosławSalt Lake City, USWorld CupApril 28, 20236.46 Aleksandra MirosławSeoul, South KoreaWorld CupApril 28, 20236.37 Aleksandra MirosławSeoul, South KoreaWorld CupApril 28, 20236.35 Aleksandra MirosławSeoul, South KoreaWorld CupApril 28, 20236.25 Aleksandra MirosławSeoul, South KoreaWorld CupSeptember 15, 20236.24 Aleksandra MirosławRome, ItalyIFSC European Olympic QualifierAugust 5, 20246.21 Aleksandra MirosławParis, FranceOlympicsAugust 5, 20246.06 Aleksandra MirosławParis, FranceOlympicsSeptember 24, 20256.03 Aleksandra MirosławSeoul, South KoreaIFSC Climbing World ChampionshipsJuly 4, 20265.99 Emma HuntKraków, PolandWorld Climbing Series

+Women's Olympic Record HistoryDateTime (s)PersonLocationGamesAugust 4, 20216.97 Aleksandra MirosławTokyo, JapanTokyo 2020August 6, 20216.84 Aleksandra MirosławTokyo, JapanTokyo 2020August 5, 20246.54 Zhou YafeiParis, FranceParis 2024August 5, 20246.52 Desak Made Rita Kusuma DewiParis, FranceParis 2024August 5, 20246.36 Emma HuntParis, FranceParis 2024August 5, 20246.21 Aleksandra MirosławParis, FranceParis 2024August 5, 20246.06 Aleksandra MirosławParis, FranceParis 2024

Speed relay Speed relay is a team variation of competition speed climbing in which successive climbers complete the standardized speed route as part of a team. An earlier version of the event was contested at the 2018 and 2022 Asian Games, with three climbers racing for each team.

A revised speed relay format using two athletes per team made its international debut at the 2025 World Games in Chengdu, China. The format uses four parallel speed-climbing lanes. In men's and women's relay events, each team consists of two climbers, with one team occupying lanes A and B and its opponent occupying lanes C and D. The first climber races on the team's left-hand lane; after touching the finishing pad, the second climber starts on the adjacent lane. The team's result is determined by the combined times of the two climbers. Relay world records are recognised separately from individual speed-climbing world records; individual split times recorded during a relay cannot be recognised as individual world records.

At the 2025 World Games, China won the inaugural men's and women's titles under the two-athlete format. Zachary Hammer and Samuel Watson of the United States set the men's world record during the bronze-medal race, while Deng Lijuan and Zhou Yafei of China set the women's world record during the semifinals.

A mixed speed relay, consisting of one woman and one man, made its World Climbing international debut at the World Climbing Series event in Kraków, Poland, in July 2026. Teams may choose the order in which their female and male climbers compete. Emma Hunt and Watson won the inaugural mixed relay title for the United States, setting a world record of 10.89 seconds in the final.

+Speed Relay's World RecordEventDateTime (s)Person (s)LocationCompetitionMenSeptember 13, 20269.58Ling YongzhiZhao YichengGuiyang, ChinaWorld Climbing SeriesWomenJuly 5, 202612.89Zhou YafeiDeng LijuanKraków, PolandWorld Climbing SeriesMixedJuly 4, 202610.89Samuel WatsonEmma HuntKraków, PolandWorld Climbing Series

Non-competition speed climbing

Most non-competition speed climbing records lack the standards normally associated with objective records. Competition speed climber Hans Florine has written about non-competition speed climbing: "I will be the first to say that climbing is silly. To make rules about it is just piling ridiculous on top of silly."Speed Climbing!: How to Climb Faster and Better 2nd edition, By Hans Florine, Bill Wright Published by Globe Pequot, 2004, , 978-0-7627-3095-7

However, various climbers have set "speed records" on well-known and frequently climbed routes, such as Dan Osman climbing Lover's Leap via the Bear's Reach route (5.7, 120+ metre) in 4 min 25 sec.Dan Osman- Lover's Leap The most notable of such records are listed below:

Notable non-competition records

California The Nose, El Capitan 1:58:07 Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell June 2018. 2:10:15 Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell May 2018. 2:19:44 Brad Gobright and Jim Reynolds October 2017. 2:45:45 Alexander and Thomas Huber, 2007 4:43:00 Mayan Smith-Gobat and Libby Sauter October 2014 (all female ascent). 12:15:00 Heidi Wertz and Wera Shulte-Pelcum 2004 (all female ascent). 11:41:00 Hans Florine solo. July 2005. 11:00:00 Tommy Caldwell 2005 (free ascent male). 12:00:00 Thierry Renault and Pascall Etienne (french climbers), 1979 23:46:00 Lynn Hill 1994 (free ascent).

Regular Northwest Route, Half Dome 1:53:25 Jim Herson and Hans Florine 1999. 5:25 Heidi Wertz and Wera Shulte-Pelcum 2004 (all female ascent). 3:58 Hans Florine solo 1999 (Full day also included El Cap). Snake Dike, Half Dome 3:00 Dean Potter 1998 (car to car).

Joshua Tree National Park 280 Routes in a day Michael Reardon solo 2004.

Colorado Bastille Crack 00:05:33 Mic Fairchild solo 1998.

Third Flatiron 36:27 Bill Briggs solo 1989 (car to car).

Nevada Epinephrine 0:39:40 Alex Honnold 2018 1:15 Jash Stwart solo 2002.

Cat In The Hat 2:35 David Laxton solo 2013.

New York The Gunks 50 Routes 13:30 Peter Darmi solo 2004. 46 Routes 13:30 Eric Weigeshoff and Peter Darmi 2004. 3400' of climbing and descent. 51 Routes 13:30 Eric Weigeshoff and Peter Darmi 2006 3400' of climbing and descent.

Wyoming Grand Traverse 6:40 Rolando Garibotti solo 2000.

See also

Competition bouldering Competition lead climbing Competition ice climbing

References