Odesa region celebrates another significant sports victory! 19-year-old athlete Grigory Ilchishin secured a silver medal at the World Cup climbing stage held in Wuzhiyang (China).

During the qualifiers, Grigory ranked 13th, allowing him to compete in the playoffs against the fourth qualifier - Olympic participant Zack Hammer (USA). 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 opponent.

In the semi-finals, he triumphed over the bronze medalist of the 2024 Olympic Games, Samuel Watson (USA), with a time of 5.11 seconds.

In the finals, our athlete only lost to the representative from China, Qiangguo Long, but still achieved a phenomenal result of 4.98 seconds, becoming the first in the history of Ukrainian climbing to break the 5-second barrier!

“I am very happy, but I believe I can do even better! I will try to show an even better time at the next stage in Bali (May 2-4),” the athlete commented on his historic success.

We congratulate Grigory on this remarkable achievement and wish him more victories on the international stage! Odesa is proud of its athlete!