SPORT CLIMBING: Mawem and Song win World Cup Speed titles in Xiamen

2019 World Cup Speed champ: France's Bassa Mawem (Photo: IFSC/Eddie Fowke)

The final Speed competitions of the IFSC World Cup saw first-time seasonal winners in France’s Bassa Mawem and China’s YiLing Song.

Mawem finished fifth in the Speed event in Xiamen (CHN), and with 51 points, ended up the seasonal leader at 329 points. That was just enough to stay ahead of Xiamen third-placer Vladislav Deudin of Russia, who ended the season with 312.

China’s 30-year-old QiXin Zhong won the men’s event – his first-ever World Cup win – and finished with a second and first this season; he climbed to fourth in the final seasonal standings.

Song had won three events this season and even with a second-place finish to Indonesia’s Aries Susanti Rahayu in the final, won the World Cup title with ease, scoring 460 points. Two-time defending champ Anouck Jaubert of France ended up second (355) and won a World Cup seasonal medal for the sixth straight season!

Susanti Rahayu won her first World Cup title of the season and repeated her win in Xiamen from 2018. She finished third overall with 333 points.

On Sunday, the penultimate Lead competitions were held, with World Champion Adam Ondra winning the men’s title and clinching the World Cup seasonal title, the third of his career. He has now won all three of his World Cup events this season and has 300 points to 189 for second-place Kai Harada of Japan, with one event remaining.

The women’s Lead title was also decided for series leader Chae-Hyun Seo of Korea, who won her fourth event of the season over Akiyo Noguchi of Japan and won her first World Cup title, at age 15. Seo has 480 seasonal points, way ahead of World Champion Janja Garnbret (SLO), with 298. Summaries:

IFSC World Cup
Xiamen (CHN) ~ 18-20 October 2019
(Full results here)

Men/Lead: 1. Adam Ondra (CZE), Top; 2. Taisei Homma (JPN), Top; 3. Tomoa Narasaki (JPN), Top; 4. Kai Harada (JPN), 31+; 5. Alberto Gines Lopez (ESP), 29+. Also: 7. Jesse Grupper (USA), 25+; 8. Sean Bailey (USA), 23+.

Women/Lead: 1. Chae-Hyun Seo (KOR), Top; 2. Akiyo Noguchi (JPN), Top; 3. Jain Kim (KOR), Top; 4. Janja Garnbret (SLO), 37+; 5. Natsuki Tanii (JPN), 37+.

Men/Speed ~ Final: 1. QiXin Zhong (CHN), 7.208; 2. Lev Rudatskiy (RUS), fell. Small Final: 3. Vladislav Deudin (RUS), 5.635; 4. Sergey Rukin (RUS), 5.763.

Final Standings: 1. Bassa Mawem (FRA), 329; 2. Vladislav Deudin (RUS), 312; 3. Alfian Muhammad (INA), 286; 4. QiXin Chong (CHN), 285; 5. Dimitrii Timofeev (RUS), 283.

Women/Speed ~ Final: 1. Aries Susanti Rahayu (INA), 6.995; 2. YiLong Song (CHN), 9.032. Small Final: 3. Mariia Krasavina (RUS), 7.947; 4. Anouck Jaubert (FRA), 14.375.

Final Standings: 1. YiLing Song (CHN), 460; 2. Anouck Jaubert (FRA), 355; 3. Aries Susanti Rahayu (INA), 333; 4. Elizaveta Ivanova (RUS), 261; 5. Di Niu (CHN), 201.