China Breaks Two World Records at World Climbing Series

Beijing Time, July 5 — The 2026 World Climbing Series Kraków stop in Poland has ended. This competition uses brand-new race rules. For the first time, the World Cup holds three new relay events: men’s and women’s 4-person speed relay, men’s and women’s double speed relay, and mixed speed relay.

The Chinese climbing team performed very well. They got two gold medals, one silver medal and one bronze medal, ranking first among all teams. Most importantly, China won gold in both men’s and women’s double speed relay. The women’s team even broke the women’s double speed relay world record two times in this competition.

The Kraków stop is the first of three new speed relay races this season. These new relay events test not only climbers’ speed, but also their teamwork and smooth handovers between teammates.

The women’s double speed relay was the most exciting race. China sent two teams to join the game.
Team 1 (Zhou Yafei, Deng Lijuan, Zhang Shaoyin) finished the qualification in 13.23 seconds.
Team 2 (Yu Yaru, Wang Yuhan, Zhang Meng) finished in 14.26 seconds and got 9th place.
Both teams moved on to the knockout rounds.

In the semi-final, China Team 1 beat the Indonesia team and set a new world record of 13.02 seconds.
In the final, the Chinese team ran even faster. They finished in 12.89 seconds and broke the world record again to win the gold medal. Poland Team 1 took silver, and Indonesia Team 1 got bronze.

In the men’s double speed relay, China also sent two teams.
Team 1 (Zhao Yicheng, Long Jianguo, Chu Shouhong) ran 10.05 seconds and ranked first in qualifications.
Team 2 (Zhou Ziyu, Ling Jiezhe, Yang Jie) finished in 10.45 seconds and ranked 9th.
Both teams entered the knockout games.

In the quarter-final, the two Chinese teams raced against each other. China Team 1 won by 0.97 seconds and went to the final. In the final, China Team 1 beat the US team and won gold. The US got silver, and Ukraine Team 1 took bronze.

On July 4, there were other relay races. Zhao Yicheng won a silver medal in the men’s 4-person speed relay. Together with Zhou Yafei, he also won a bronze medal in the mixed speed relay.

The competition lasted from July 3 to 5 in Kraków, a famous cultural city in Poland. The Chinese team made history here. These new relay events show new fun in speed climbing. China’s great results and two new world records prove that Chinese speed climbers are among the best in the world. With good training and better teamwork, Chinese climbers will keep creating new records in future international games.