EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND (Reuters) — With a winning time of under 7 seconds, speed climbing can claim to be the Olympic Games’ fastest sport.
Sport climbing is one of five sports that have been included in the programme for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics along with baseball/softball, bowling, karate, surfing and skateboarding.
On Sunday (September 24), Edinburgh hosted the latest round of the 2017 IFSC World Cup.
Italy’s Ludivico Fossali won the men’s event after Russian Stanislav Kokorin committed a false start. But in the small final it was a much closer affair with Italian Leonardo Gontero winning in a time of 6.25 seconds, beating Russian Aleksandr Shikov by three hundredths of a second.
In the women’s event France’s Anouk Jaubert was triumphant in the final, beating Mariia Krasavina of Russia.
Krasavina’s compatriot, Luliia Kaplina, claimed third place after overcoming Poland’s Anna Brozken.
The next IFSC World Cup event is in Wujiang, China on October 7.