Remarkable Achievement by Ukrainian Climber on the International Stage
Odessa region celebrates another significant sporting victory! 19-year-old Grigory Ilchishin, originally from Odessa, secured a silver medal at the World Cup stage of climbing in the «speed» discipline, held in Wuzhiyuan (People's Republic of China).
In the qualification round, Grigory placed 13th, which allowed him to face the fourth qualifier – Olympic participant Zak Hammer (USA) – in the first playoff round. With a confident performance clocking 5.21 seconds, our athlete advanced to the quarterfinals.
In the quarterfinals, Grigory set a new national record – 5.01 seconds, defeating a Chinese competitor.
In the semifinals, the climber triumphed over 2024 Olympic bronze medalist Samuel Watson (USA) with a time of 5.11 seconds.
In the finals, our athlete only lost to Chinese representative Qiangguo Long, but still achieved a phenomenal result of 4.98 seconds, becoming the first in Ukrainian climbing history to break the 5-second barrier!
“I am very happy but confident that I can do even better! I will try to set a new record at the next stage in Bali (May 2-4),” commented the athlete on his historic success.
Congratulations to Grigory on this incredible achievement, and we wish him further victories on the international stage! Odessa takes pride in its athlete!