Kiromal Katibin

Kiromal Katibin (born 21 August 2000) is an Indonesian competition climber who specializes in competition speed climbing. He was the world record holder in speed climbing, with a time of 5.009 seconds recorded at 2022 IFSC Climbing World Cup in Chamonix, France in July 2022, until it was broken by his compatriot Veddriq Leonardo in April 2023. He finished second overall in the men's speed category during the 2021 IFSC Climbing World Cup series. Katibin also has four career IFSC Climbing World Cup medals, all in speed.

Early life In 2007, Katibin saw sport climbing for the first time in a Batang city square during the Provincial Sports Week.

Since 2009, Katibin has been training with his brother. He was motivated to pursue sport climbing because he enjoyed meeting many friends, but he started winning national-level championships. His first medal was in the lead climbing competition at the 2011 National Championships. He also won the speed climbing gold medal at the 2016 National Championships and the speed climbing gold medal at the 2017 National Championships.

Career

Katibin collected his first senior international medal, winning silver at the 2019 Asian Championships in Bogor, Indonesia.

On 28 May 2021, Katibin set a record for the fastest-ever ascent in competition speed climbing with a record of 5.25 seconds in the qualifying round of a IFSC World Cup event in Salt Lake City, United States. The record had been held by Reza Alipour who climbed in 5.48 seconds in 2017. He finished the competition with a silver medal, losing the same day in the final race to his compatriot Veddriq Leonardo, who set a new world record of 5.20 seconds. In July 2021, Katibin won a bronze at the Villars World Cup. He finished the 2021 World Cup series in second place overall.

On 6 May 2022, Katibin regained the world record from Leonardo with a 5.17-second run in the qualifying round of the World Cup event in Seoul, South Korea. On 27 May, he lowered his own world record with 5.10 seconds in the qualifying round of the World Cup event in Salt Lake City. On 30 June, he broke the record for the fourth time in the IFSC World Cup Villars qualifiers with 5.097 seconds and improved his record again later that day with a 5.04-second run. On 8 July, Katibin set the world record for the seventh time in 14 months with a time of 5.009 seconds at the Chamonix World Cup qualifying round.

In July 2022, Katibin won the silver medal at the World Games in Birmingham, Alabama, United States, losing to Leonardo in the final.

In April 2023, Katibin lost the world record to Leonardo, who recorded runs of 4.984 and 4.9000 seconds at the 2023 IFSC Climbing World Cup in Seoul.

Achievements

World Games Men's speed Year Venue Opponent Time (s) Result Ref 2022 Sloss Furnaces, Birmingham, United States Veddriq Leonardo fall–7.230 Silver

Asian Games

Men's speed relay Year Venue Partner Opponent Time (s) Result Ref 2022 Keqiao Yangshan Sport Climbing Centre, Shaoxing, China Veddriq Leonardo Rahmad Adi Mulyono Aspar Wang Xinshang Wu Peng Zhang Liang Long Jinbao FS–W Silver

Asian Championships Men's speed Year Venue Opponent Time (s) Result Ref 2019 Pakansari Stadium, Bogor, Indonesia Veddriq Leonardo 5.547–5.460 Silver

Men's speed relay Year Venue Partner Opponent Time (s) Result Ref 2019 Pakansari Stadium, Bogor, Indonesia Veddriq Leonardo Zaenal Aripin Sabri Rahmad Adi Mulyono Fatchur Roji fall–23.492 Silver

Asian Youth Championships Speed juniors Year Venue Opponent Time (s) Result Ref 2018 Chongqing, China Milad Alipour Shenazandifar 6.05–6.42 Gold

IFSC Climbing World Cup Men's speed Year Venue Opponent Time (s) Result Ref 2021 Salt Lake City, United States Veddriq Leonardo fall–5.208 Silver 2021 Villars, Switzerland Vladislav Deulin 5.30–5.38 Bronze 2022 Seoul, South Korea Veddriq Leonardo fs–6.965 Silver 2022 Salt Lake City (I), United States Noah Bratschi 5.643–fall Gold 2022 Jakarta, Indonesia Aspar 5.75–5.39 Silver 2023 Jakarta, Indonesia Wu Peng 6.34–fall Bronze 2023 Salt Lake City, United States Samuel Watson 4.98–5.98 Bronze 2024 Wujiang, China Ludovico Fossali 5.07–5.16 Bronze 2025 Wujiang, China Samuel Watson 4.75–5.04 Bronze 2025 Bali, Indonesia Raharjati Nursamsa 4.81–6.64 Bronze 2025 Denver, United States Zach Hammer 4.83–4.88 Gold 2025 Kraków, Poland Raharjati Nursamsa fall–4.73 Silver

World records

+Men's World Record HistoryDateTime (s)LocationCompetitionJuly 8, 20225.009 Chamonix, FranceWorld CupJune 30, 20225.04 Villars, SwitzerlandWorld CupJune 30, 20225.09 Villars, SwitzerlandWorld CupMay 27, 20225.10 Salt Lake City, United StatesWorld CupMay 6, 20225.17 Seoul, South KoreaWorld CupMay 28, 20215.25 Salt Lake City, United StatesWorld Cup

Rankings IFSC Climbing World Cup Discipline 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 Speed 2 2 16 8 1

Number of medals in the Climbing World Cup Speed