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Jeong Ji-min, a national sports climbing representative, climbed the Shin Jeong-ho artificial rock wall in Asan, South Chungcheong Province. Jeong Ji-min first started climbing here when he was in the second grade of elementary school. Jeong Ji-min, who became the first Korean athlete to win an International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) World Cup medal in the speed event, is now challenging for a medal at the Paris Olympics.

100m race during sport climbing- Unlike bouldering, the game is over within 7 seconds of facing the opponent, but there are many variables, so the youngest person to wear the Taegeuk mark is switched. “We will win a ticket to the finals from the China-Hungary preliminary round.”

Jeong Ji-min (20, photo) won a bronze medal in the speed competition at the 2024 International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) World Cup 2nd competition held in Wujiang, China on the 14th of last month. Jeong Ji-min is the first Korean athlete to win an IFSC World Cup speed medal across the men's and women's divisions. Jeong Ji-min, whom I recently met at Shin Jeong-ho Artificial Rock Climbing Club in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, said, “There are still many people in Korea who do not know about the speed sport itself. “I want to do well until the Paris Olympics and spread the word about speed,” she said.

Sport climbing includes: △ ‘Speed’, where two athletes start at the same time and compete to see who can quickly climb to the top of a 15m rock wall; △ ‘Lead’, where the person who climbs the highest on a 15m rock wall within 6 minutes of the time limit wins; △Pre-determined holds (holding with hands and feet) It is divided into 'bouldering', where the athlete who climbs the 4 or 5 meter wall in the fewest number of times using only the part that can be stepped on wins.

‘Rock Queen’ Kim Ja-in said, “Compared to lead and bouldering, speed is a different sport to the point that it has nothing in common other than ‘climbing a rock wall.’ If lead and bouldering are marathons, then speed can be said to be a 100m run.” explained. Kim Ja-in also only won gold medals in her main events, leading (30 times) and bouldering (1 time), but there were no medals in speed. Even at the Paris Olympics, which opens on July 26 (local time), lead and bouldering are grouped together in an event called 'combined', but speed is held separately.

Jeong Ji-min was also originally a ‘marathoner type’ whose main sports were lead and bouldering. Jeong Ji-min, a ‘persevering girl’ who loved hanging on to bars or cloud ladders, became the youngest person in Korean sport climbing history (15 years and 6 months) to wear the Taegeuk symbol in 2020. He thought that his first individual medal at the IFSC World Cup would either be lead or bouldering.

His fortunes changed when he underwent ankle surgery in the winter of 2020. He underwent surgery and worked hard on rehabilitation, but the pain did not go away until the national team selection match the following year. Jeong Ji-min, who judged that there was no possibility of making the national team in leading or bouldering, took on the challenge of joining the national speed team, which has a thin player base. Jeong Ji-min said, “I chose speed because I felt it would be a waste to waste an entire season, but after doing it, I became more sincere. It would be a lie if I said I had no regrets about lead and bouldering, but I don’t regret switching to speed.”

Lead, bouldering is more like a ‘fight against yourself’ over records. On the other hand, in speed, no matter how good your record is, if you use the touchpad slower than your opponent, you will be eliminated. Jeong Ji-min, who set a new personal record (6.623 seconds) in the 3rd and 4th place match at this IFSC World Cup, said, “Speed ​​is a game that is decided within 7 seconds, and there are many variables. So there are many times when it feels vain, but that is also its charm.”

He continued, “If the opponent is fast, my body unconsciously becomes faster too. “When I think back, I made a mistake the moment I thought, ‘Oh, I’m faster than him,’” he said. “Last year (Paris Olympics), during the 3rd and 4th place Asian preliminaries, I met a player who was very good. So he put everything aside and decided, ‘Let’s just focus on my climbing,’ and the results turned out to be good.”

However, Jeong Ji-min lost to a Chinese player in the final of the Asian preliminary round held in Jakarta, Indonesia, and was unable to win the only ticket to Paris, which was at stake in this tournament. However, this does not mean that Jeong Ji-min's opportunity to participate in the Paris Olympics has completely disappeared. This is because five tickets to the speed finals are at stake in the Paris Olympic qualifying series held in Shanghai, China this month and Budapest, Hungary next month.

Jeong Ji-min headed to the Jincheon Athletes' Village to prepare for the preliminary series and said, “The more I think, ‘This is a really important competition,’ the more I lose everything I have. “I will practice to the best of my ability, but during the competition, I will run with the mindset of ‘let’s show off what I have prepared in a fun way’ and ‘I don’t know,’” he said.


토토; www.sportstotomen.com