What? Two World Records And An American Record—Smashed!
The second of back-to-back weekend World Cups kicked off today in Salt Lake City today with a Speed qualification round—and, with that, a rewriting of the record books.
In the men’s division, Indonesia’s Kiromal Katibin clocked a new world record time of 5.105 seconds in an early race against South Korea’s Minsoo Park. The blazing time bested the previous men’s world record—set by Katibin earlier this season—by 0.07 seconds.
The women’s division kicked off with a quick run by Poland’s Aleksandra Kalucka, but the crowd-stirring moment came several races later, in a matchup between two of Team USA’s biggest stars, Callie Close and Emma Hunt. Hunt narrowly beat Close and in the process clocked a time of 7.174. The time established a new American record. But Hunt wasn’t done, as she set a new American record again in a later race with an even better time of 7.053 seconds.
The qualification round culminated with a race between Poland’s Aleksandra Miroslaw and South Korea’s Hanareum Sung. Miroslaw clocked a time of 6.534 seconds, beating the previous women’s world record (which Miroslaw had also set) by 0.1 seconds.
The Speed finals are set for tonight, May 27; if the final round is anything like the qualification round, personal benchmarks will get smashed again and more records will fall. Tune into the action on the IFSC’s livestream here.
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