Aptly nicknamed “Spiderwoman”, Aries Susanti Rahayu has broken the world record for speed-climbing. Her performance at the IFSC Xiamen World Cup has reached far outside the niche speed-climbing community, quickly going viral on Twitter and Reddit.
After seeing Rahayu scale a 15-meter wall in China in under 7 seconds, fans quickly nicknamed the young woman “Spiderwoman”. Like a spider, Rahayu barely seems to touch the wall as she flies upwards. In fact, she moves so quickly that her competitor – the previous record holder – quickly falls out of the frame of the camera as Rahayu launches towards the top.
At only 24 years old, Rahayu earned a slot on Forbes’s Asia “30 Under 30” list for Sports & Entertainment in 2019. Next, the young champion plans to tackle to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
Climbing to the Olympics
As a subcategory of Sport Climbing, speed climbing will make its Olympic debut in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Competitors climb side-by-side, the winner determined by who reaches the top first. The International Federation of Sport Climbing has standardized the routes – Rahayu’s 6.995 second climb record the fastest ever.
Rahayu has her own theories about her – and her climbing team’s – success in the sport. “I guess we [Indonesians] are good at speed climbing because people can move faster because they are smaller in size,” jokes the world champion.
Rahayu has speed climbing down to a science, but this is only one aspect of the triathlon-style Sport Climbing category. The young athlete must still hone her skills in bouldering and lead, and rely on her team to complement her strengths and weaknesses.
“We can compete with all teams, including Japan [the current strongest team in the sport] in the Olympics,” Rahayu claims.
Aries Susanti Rahayu Climbs from Trees to Walls
Rahayu has been climbing since her childhood. “Before knowing sport climbing I liked climbing trees when I was a child, at home or in parks,” she recalls. Once her middle school teacher introduced her to the sport of speed climbing in 2007, she was hooked.
Winning her first gold medal in Tehran in 2017, Rahayu now boasts the world record and several more gold medals. But this latest feat came with the extra challenge of an injured hand, which she hopes will not impede her ability to compete in the Olympics.
While she admitted that her condition was “not good”, she keeps a positive attitude, adding that she feels “blessed” to have set the record.
Aries Susanti Rahayu Looks to the Olympics
Rahayu thinks of the competition as a matter of herself and the wall – not the other athletes. “The wall in sport climbing is high, so it’s exhilarating, like an adventure,” she explains. “It’s also like I’m competing against myself, how to beat my own record.”
Despite her injury, Rahayu has blasted one record and looks forward to breaking more ground at the 2020 Olympics.
“Aries has a strong mentality,” says her coach, Hendra Basir. “If she wants to climb, she just says ‘I’m strong,’ and ‘I’m fast,’ so that’s a good motivation.”
Rahayu’s positive outlook is echoed in the advice she gives new climbers, “If you fail, don’t give up: keep going and give your best, pray a lot, and your glorious moment will come one day.”
The athlete has already seen some glorious moments, and will seek out more at the 2020 Olympics.
