A speed climber dubbed 'Spider-Woman' destroyed a world record while injured in a mind-boggling gold-medal climb

Meredith Cash,Meredith Cash

Oct 21, 2019, 20:24 IST

A speed climber dubbed 'Spider-Woman' destroyed a world record while injured in a mind-boggling gold-medal climb

Indonesian speed climber Aries Susanti Rahayu climbed a 15-meter speed route in just 6.995 seconds.
The 24-year-old shattered the previous world record and became the first woman to complete a speed route in under seven seconds.
After her historic climb, Susanti Rahayu revealed to an interviewer that she was climbing with injuries on her hands.
Speed climbing will make its Olympics debut in Tokyo next year, where Susanti Rahayu is an obvious favorite to take home the gold.
Watch the video of her impressive climb below:
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Indonesian speed climber Aries Susanti Rahayu shocked the climbing world by ascending a 15-meter speed route in under seven seconds, smashing the world record.

She also became the first woman in the sport to beat the seven-second mark, and she did it all while injured.

The 24-year-old took down previous world-record holder YiLing Song of China to win gold at the Xiamen World Cup Saturday while nursing injuries on her hands. Susanti Rahayu's 6.995-second climb was a full 0.11 seconds faster than Song's time at the IFSC World Cup in Chongqing, China, this April.

"My condition is not good," she said after the record-setting climb. "You can look at my hand, my fingers."

"Blessed to get a record. Amazing for me," she added.

This is the third time the world record has changed hands since 2017, according to the International Federation of Sport Climbing. In that span, the top competitors in the sport have shaved nearly half of a second off of the previous world record.

Speed climbing will make its Olympics debut in Tokyo next year, where Susanti Rahayu is an obvious favorite to take home the gold and once again find her way into the record books.