Grigory Ilchishin: A New Record for Odesa in Climbing
The Odesa region celebrates another significant sports victory! 19-year-old athlete Grigory Ilchishin claimed the silver medal at the World Cup stage in climbing, specifically in the ‘speed’ discipline, held in Wuzhiyang (People's Republic of China).
In the qualifying rounds, Grigory secured 13th place, which allowed him to face fourth-seeded Olympian Zak Hammer (USA) in the first playoff round. With a confident performance and a time of 5.21 seconds, he advanced to the quarter-finals.
In the quarter-finals, Grigory set a new Ukrainian record of 5.01 seconds, surpassing his Chinese competitor.
In the semi-finals, he defeated 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 an incredible time of 4.98 seconds, becoming the first in Ukrainian climbing history to break the 5-second barrier!
“I am very happy, but I am confident I can do even better! I will aim for an even faster time at the next stage in Bali (May 2-4),” commented the athlete on his historic success.
Congratulations to Grigory on this remarkable achievement, and we wish him further victories on the international stage! Odesa is proud of its athlete!