How Fast Is Your Country? Speed Climbing National Bests

Speed climbing is the only climbing discipline where a national record means something precise. The route is identical worldwide, so a country's best time is directly comparable to every other country's best time, with no asterisk about conditions or setting.

We pulled the fastest time ever recorded by an athlete of each nation on the standard route. 75 nations have a men's national best on the books. 69 have a women's. Here is what that reveals.

The nations at the front

Men

#	Time	Nation	Athlete
1	4.54	China	Zhao Yicheng赵一程Zhào Yīchéng
2	4.60	United States	Samuel Watson
3	4.70	Japan	Ryo Omasa
4	4.72	Indonesia	Robby Al Hilmi Antasyafi
5	4.81	Kazakhstan	Rishat Khaibullin
6	4.84	Iran	Reza Alipour Shenazandifard
7	4.84	Ukraine	Hryhorii Ilchyshyn
8	4.84	Thailand	Aphiwit Limpanichpakdee
9	4.85	Switzerland	Gilles Meili
10	4.86	Germany	Leander Carmanns

Women

#	Time	Nation	Athlete
1	5.99	United States	Emma Hunt
2	6.03	Poland	Aleksandra Mirosław
3	6.07	Indonesia	Desak Made Rita Kusuma Dewi
4	6.18	China	Deng Lijuan邓丽娟Dèng Lìjuān
5	6.26	Spain	Leslie Adriana Romero Pérez
6	6.33	South Korea	Jeong Jimin
7	6.34	Ukraine	Polina Khalkevych
8	6.36	France	Capucine Viglione

The thresholds

This is where the picture gets interesting.

• Under 5.00 (men): 15 nations. Out of 75 with any record at all.
• Under 5.50: 23 nations.
• Under 6.00: 36 nations. Which means over half the nations with a national record have never had a man break six seconds.
• Under 7.00 (women): 12 nations.

Fifteen countries on earth have produced a sub-five man. Twelve have produced a sub-seven woman. Set against 75 and 69 nations competing, that is a very steep pyramid.

What the list actually shows

Depth and a single athlete are different things. Thailand sits eighth on the men's list on the back of one exceptional climber. Switzerland is ninth on the same basis. Indonesia and China are in the top four with entire squads behind the number. A national best tells you the ceiling, not the programme.

Geography is not destiny, but access is. The nations at the front are, with few exceptions, nations with certified walls and a domestic circuit to race on. Our directory maps walls across Europe, Asia and North America thickly, and South America, Africa and Oceania very thinly. That distribution and this leaderboard are the same fact viewed twice.

The women's list is younger and moves faster. The women's world record has fallen further and more often in the last few years than the men's, and the national bests reflect a field still finding its ceiling.

If your country is not on the list

That is more common than not. Most nations on earth have never recorded an official speed time, and the reason is almost always the same: no certified wall to set one on.

The good news is the fix is unusually cheap in this sport. A speed route needs no routesetter, never changes, and runs on an auto belay. Once a gym puts one up, it stays up. The barrier is knowing to ask, and knowing that the route is a fixed specification rather than a design problem.

Check whether there is already a wall near you on the wall directory. It has country pages for all 50 nations we have mapped. If your gym has a speed wall we do not list, tell us and it goes on the map.

Where to start if you are the first

Learn the route before you have a wall. It is identical everywhere, so the sequence you memorize today works on every certified wall in the world. Our beta map is free and walks all 20 hand holds and 11 footchips.

Then find people. If you are the only speed climber you know, the fastest way to stop being self-coached is other climbers chasing the same route. The Skool community is free to join, and there are members in exactly your position: no domestic circuit, no coach, and a national record that is very much still available.