Poland’s Aleksandra Mirosław entered this morning’s Olympic Speed finals as the statistical favorite, having set a new world record (of 6.06 seconds) in the seeding and elimination rounds on August 5. However, she still had to perform expertly in the finals, as the field of seven other finalists ensured little margin for error in each run.
In fact, that proved to be the case in Mirosław’s first race of the finals, a head-to-head sprint against Spain’s Leslie Adriana Romero Pérez. Both Mirosław and Romero Pérez had good starts, and both competitors had clean runs to the top of the route—no subtle missteps, errant slips, or slight stumbles. Mirosław ultimately claimed the victory by 0.71 seconds, but her winning time of 6.35 seconds was actually her slowest time of the Paris Olympics. Whether such a “slow” time allowed Mirosław to conserve some valuable energy for later races in the finals is something that only Mirosław would know, but to fans, pundits, and viewers around the world, it seemed like the perfect strategy; Mirosław physically and mentally expended only what was necessary to win the race against Romero Pérez, and nothing more.
Mirosław’s next race in the tournament-style elimination bracket of the finals came against Polish teammate Aleksandra Kałucka. It proved to be a much closer race than the battle against Romero Pérez. Kałucka had a lightning fast start and ended up setting a personal best time of 6.34 seconds, but Mirosław was slightly faster throughout the route and clocked a time of 6.19 seconds to earn the narrow victory. Commentator Petra Klingler aptly described Mirosław’s climbing as an “impeccable run,” but most importantly, the win vaulted Mirosław into the climactic race of the women’s Speed discipline.
I should pause here to note that other crucial results, highlights, and lowlights that happened outside of Mirosław’s commanding aura around this time. For example, several stalwart competitors were eliminated in quarterfinal and semifinal races, including Team USA’s Emma Hunt, Indonesia’s Desak Made Rita Kusuma Dewi, and China’s Yafei Zhou. But the competitor who managed to rise above the roster attrition was China’s Lijuan Deng; she posted a pair of winning times that were remarkably similar and consistent (6.36 and 6.38 seconds), which set up a showdown between Mirosław and Deng for the gold medal.
The culminating head-to-head race for Olympic gold did not disappoint. Mirosław held a slight lead at the start and into the lower section of the route, but Deng made up substantial ground in the route’s middle section. By the upper section of the route, Mirosław and Deng were neck-and-neck, but Mirosław had a quicker reach in the dynamic leap for the top sensor—and, as a result, Mirosław secured the gold-medal with a time of 6.10 seconds. In narrowly losing, Deng still managed to earn the silver medal. Furthermore, Deng’s concluding time of 6.18 seconds was a lifetime personal best (and a new record for the Asian continent).
Mirosław and Deng were joined on the podium by Poland’s Aleksandra Kałucka, who beat Indonesia’s Rajiah Sallsabillah for the bronze medal.
Results of the Women’s Olympic Speed Climbing Final
Watch Mirosław set a new Women’s Speed world record here.
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