Indonesian Rock Climbing Athletes Not Only Win The Title, But Also Set A World Record In The United States

Indonesian rock climbing athlete, Veddriq Leonardo. (Photo: Instagram @veddriq)

JAKARTA - Rock climbing athletes, Veddriq Leonardo and Kiromal Katibin, made Indonesia proud at the 2022 World Cup International Sport Climbing (IFSC) event in Salt Lake City, United States.

Veddriq Leonardo won the title after defeating the representative of Austria, Tobias Plangger in the final. The Indonesian athlete recorded a time of 6.33 seconds.

Meanwhile, Kiromal Katibin broke the world record. He carved a time of 5.10 seconds in the preliminary round.

Based on the IFSC's official website, Saturday, Veddriq performed brilliantly from the start. In the qualifying round he had recorded a time of 5.28 seconds. Then his good record continued in the round of 16 with 5.51 seconds beating Canadian representative Ethan Pitcher who finished the race with 5.90 seconds.

In the quarter-finals, Veddriq again appeared dominant by posting a time of 5.45 seconds beating the host athlete, Samuel Watson, who only recorded a time of 6.10 seconds.

In the semifinals, Veddriq's time was better at 5.35 seconds. He got rid of the Italian representative Ludovico Fossali with 7.84 seconds. His dominance continued until he finally won the title.

Unfortunately, Katibin stalled in the quarter-finals after slipping against Poland's Marcin Dzienski.

With this result, Indonesia has brought one gold medal and one world record.

"The world-class achievements achieved by Veddriq and Katibin today have proven that Indonesian athletes are capable of being the best," said the Head of the Central Indonesian National Sports Committee (KONI), Marciano Norman, as quoted by Antara, Saturday, May 28.