TEHRAN – Iranian speed rock climber Reza Alipour has advanced to the semifinal at the 2024 World Climbing Cup underway in Wujiang, China.
In the preliminary stage of the men’s speed section, Alipour secured the ninth position and progressed to the semi-final.
Meanwhile, Mahya Darabian, another Iranian speed climber, stood in seventeenth place and was eliminated from the tournament.
Teenager Sam Watson broke the speed climbing world record twice in under an hour at a World Cup competition in China on Friday, signaling his status as one of the favorites for gold at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Watson, 18, from the United States broke the previous world record of 4.90 seconds by Indonesia’s Veddriq Leonardo when he scaled the 15-meter wall in 4.85 seconds in his first run.
He followed that up with 4.79 seconds in his second attempt to lower his own best mark further.
Watson is ranked number eight in the world and will make his debut at the Paris Olympics, having already qualified last October.
Climbing made its debut at the Tokyo Olympics. There will be two events for male and female competitors in Paris, a speed and combined bouldering and lead competition.
 A total of 136 sport climbing athletes from 33 countries and regions are competing in the Keqiao event at the Yangshan Climbing Center, the same venue that hosted the climbing event during the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou in 2023.
The International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) World Cup 2024 is underway in Wujiang, China from April 11 to 14, 2024.