Two Indonesian Climbers Set New Men’s Speed World Record in Salt Lake City World Cup

KOMPAS.com – Two Indonesian climbers set the men’s speed world record at the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) World Cup in Salt Lake City, Utah, Saturday, May 29.

Veddriq Leonardo, 24, and Kiromal Katibin, 20, stopped the clock at 5.208 seconds and 5.258 seconds, respectively.

According to the IFSC website, during his very first IFSC World Cup competition, Kiromal’s name started spreading quickly among athletes, media, and officials, as he clocked in unofficial records during warm-up and practice sessions, multiple times.

Here below are their profiles:

1. Veddriq Leonardo

KOMPAS.COM/KRISTIANTO PURNOMO Veddriq Leonardo during the 2019 Sport Climbing Asian Championship in Bogor, West Java on Saturday, November 9, 2019.

The Indonesian Sport Climbing Federation (FPTI) website said the athlete who was born in Pontianak, West Kalimantan on March 11, 1997, has only joined the country’s rock climbing team in January 2018. However, it added, for four months after joining the team, he has significantly demonstrated high achievements.

This included his performance at the IFSC World Cup in Moscow on April 21-22 2018 when he bagged a bronze medal in the men’s speed world record. “I joined the National Team on January 9, 2018, to compete in the Asian Games,” the FPTI website quoted Veddriq.

Veddriq’s achievements:

2021: Gold medal, IFSC Climbing World Cup in Salt Lake City
2019: Gold medal, PRE-National Games (PON) XX in South Sulawesi
2019: Gold medal, the Asian Championship in Bogor, West Java
2019: Silver medal, the Asian Championship in Bogor, West Java
2019: Gold medal, the Belt and Road ICMT in Qinghai, China
2018: Bronze medal, IFSC World Cup in Moscow
2017: Bronze medal, FPTI XVI in Yogyakarta, Central Java
2016: Bronze medal, National Championship in Bangka, Sumatera

2. Kiromal Katibin

Kiromal, who was born in Batang, Central Java, on August 21, 2000, had a desire to participate in the sport climbing events when he was only seven years old.

“I knew about rock climbing for the first time in 2007 during the pre-sport games at the provincial level,” the FPTI website quoted Kiromal.

Two years after, his brother and he began to practice the sport climbing, which was accompanied by a trainer. He then competed in the local sport climbing event in Karanganyar, Central Java in 2009 followed by several national championships from 2010-2012 and 2015.

Kiromal’s achievements:

2021: Silver medal, IFSC Climbing World Cup in Salt Lake City
2019: Silver medal, Asian Championship in Bogor, West Java
2019: Silver medal (Speed Relay category), Asian Championship in Bogor
2019: Silver medal, Pre-National Games (PON) XX in Surabaya
2018: Silver medal, Sport Climbing National Championship XVII in Solo, Central Java

(Writer: Nur Rohmi Aida | Editor: Sari Hardiyanto)

Source: https://www.kompas.com/tren/read/2021/05/30/091500465/jadi-juara-dunia-di-as-berikut-profil-atlet-panjat-tebing-veddriq-leonardo?page=all#page4.