By Rozanna Latiff and Sam Nussey
TOKYO (Reuters) – Poland’s Aleksandra Miroslaw smashed the women’s world speed climbing record on Friday to win the first leg of the three-event Olympic final on Friday, as the competition that made its Games debut this week draws to a close.
Miroslaw, 27, reached the top of the 15m (49ft) wall in 6.84 seconds, knocking more than a tenth of a second off the 6.96 second record set last year by Russian climber Iuliia Kaplina, who was eliminated in Wednesday’s qualifier.
That puts the Pole in a strong position ahead of the next two legs: bouldering, which requires climbers to use problem-solving skills to scale obstacles set along a low wall, followed by lead, a timed climb that tests endurance.
The combined score, a multiplication of rankings across the three events, determines the overall winner.
France’s Anouck Jaubert finished second in speed – a head-to-head race up the wall – followed by Japanese medal hope Miho Nonaka.
Janja Garnbret of Slovenia, widely considered a contender for the gold medal, placed fifth out of eight finalists in what is her weakest discipline.
In the men’s final on Thursday night, Spanish teenager Alberto Gines Lopez clinched the sport’s first gold https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/climbing-spains-gines-lopez-claims-first-climbing-gold-thrilling-olympic-debut-2021-08-05, while silver went to Nathaniel Coleman of the United States and bronze to Austria’s Jakob Schubert.
(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; editing by John Stonestreet)
