Positive Provisions for Kiromal Katibin and Desak Made at the World Cup

WUJIANG, FRIDAY — Of the six Indonesian speed climbers competing in the 2025 Climbing World Cup series in Wujiang, China, only Kiromal Katibin and Desak Made Rita Kusuma Dewi qualified for the final round. Their impressive performances are not only positive provisions for the tournament, but also capital to realize their ambitions this year.

Desak Made Rita and Kiromal Katibin have secured their positions as two representatives of Indonesia in the final round after advancing to the top 16 of the qualifying round, Friday (25/4/2025). In the competition held at the Fenhu Culture and Sports Center in Wujiang, Desak achieved second place in the women's category with a best time of 6.37 seconds. Meanwhile, Kiromal finished in third place with a time of 4.964 seconds.

The 2025 World Cup Series in Wujiang will compete in two disciplines, namely lead and speed. For the women's speed discipline, Indonesia sent Desak, Puja Lestari, and Susan Hidayah. As for the men's speed, Indonesia's representatives are Kiromal, Veddriq Leonardo, and Alfian Muhammad Fajri.

Desak began his impressive performance by completing the first climb in 6.55 seconds. The climber from Bali surged forward with full energy as soon as the start signal light turned on. He then became even more explosive during the second climb.

The gold medalist at the 2023 World Climbing Championship in Bern nearly matched his best time record of 6.36, which he set at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games. However, he did not display a happy expression after that achievement.

It is reasonable. This is because Desak actually wants to surpass her best time record. Before departing for Wujiang, Desak expressed her dream of sharpening her time record.

Breaking the record will help Desak rebuild her confidence. It will also serve as a step for her to rise stronger after the dramatic defeat in the quarter-finals of the Paris 2025 Olympics.

"For Wujiang, which is the initial tournament, I hope to break the training record of 6.28 seconds there. Moreover, the atmosphere during competitions is usually different; I hope it can encourage that or even achieve a shorter time," said Desak.

Like Desak, Kiromal also did not show a happy expression after completing his second climb. In fact, Kiromal appeared somewhat dissatisfied after reviewing his time record.

Kiromal's expression can be understood, especially when considering that his target is beyond that. When asked about his major ambition for 2025, Kiromal specified a time record target, namely finishing in 4.6 seconds. If achieved, Kiromal will once again become a world record holder.

Currently, the world record holder in the men's category is Samuel Watson, a climbing athlete from the United States. Watson broke the world record with a time of 4.74 seconds at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Regardless of that, the paths of Desak and Kiromal are still long, both in Wujiang and in other tournaments this year. Having advanced to the final round through impressive performances, Desak and Kiromal have a positive foundation to demonstrate better actions in the next stage.

This impressive performance will also serve as a strong asset to realize their ambitions this year, provided that Desak and Kiromal maintain consistency throughout the tournament and the year.

Meanwhile, Veddriq Leonardo's journey came to a halt as he ranked 17th with a best time of 5.165 seconds. He was only 0.003 seconds away from the last qualifying spot for the final round, held by Shi Zechuan (China) in 16th place with a best time of 5.162 seconds.

Veddriq himself actually did not appear in his best condition. Two weeks before leaving for Wujiang, the 2024 Paris Olympics gold medalist was forced to not practice on the speed climbing wall because he was still recovering from a left finger injury. He even showed his swollen finger.

Last week, Veddriq had started light training on the speed climbing wall even though he had not fully recovered. He had not yet reached his best performance. "Indeed, if the finger is injured it is quite vital, because the finger is one of the fighting tools in rock climbing," said Veddriq.

In addition to Veddriq, Alfian Muhammad Fajri's journey also came to a halt after finishing in 20th place with a best time of 5.26 seconds. Meanwhile, in the women's category, Susan Nurhidayah ranked 24th (7.57 seconds) and Puja Lestari occupied 27th place (7.71 seconds).

The final round of rock climbing will be held on Saturday (4/25/2025). Kiromal and Desak will compete starting at 18.30 WIB.