Press Release 05 August 2010

ITALY’S ROCK MASTER SET ANOTHER GREAT RESULT
QIXIN ZHONG’S SPEED RECORD VALIDATED

The IFSC EB has validated Chinese’s new speed world record
Next year Arco will host the IFSC World Championship
The Italian OC at work

The Italian town of Arco, in Trentino region, might be considered the cradle of modern sport climbing competitions, and it is perhaps most famous as the site of the world’s oldest and most prestigious annual climbing competition, the Rock Master. 
Last July, Rock Master was the World Championship Pre-event, and more than 200 athletes from all over the world faced each other in Lead climbing, Bouldering and Speed, giving life to three days of highly spectacular competitions. 
Rock Master 2010 has also set an astonishing new record in climbing history, and more specifically in speed climbing history. 
The IFSC Executive Board has decided to validate the record set on July 16th by the Chinese Qixin Zhong at the World Championship Pre-event in Arco. With a shocking 6.47 seconds on the 15 metres lane, Zhong broke the former record he himself had set in the World Championship 2009 (6.64). The record could not be validated during the competition due a technical incident, when Russia’s Stanislav Kokorin false started in the semi-final and Zhong didn’t stop, flying straight to the top and breaking the previous record by 17 centi-seconds.
Besides the three well-known competitions, the brand new “Team Speed” was staged at the 2010 Rock Master. Men and women mixed teams of three athletes each sprinted upwards in a vertical relay race on the World Record wall. The Team Speed competition, won this year by the Chinese team, will be introduced as a medal competition for the 2011 World Championship.
Next year, for the first time in history, Arco and Italy will host the IFSC Climbing World Championship, with all the top climbers gathering from July 15th to 24th along the Climbing Stadium’s walls. Pointless to say that the Arco 2011 OC has already fired its engines in order to make the World Championships event in Arco unique.
Info: www.arco2011.com