Chinese climber Long Jianguo breaks men's speed climbing national record

GANZHOU, China, March 19 (Xinhua) -- China's climber Long Jianguo set a new men's speed climbing national record of 5.00 seconds at the 29th National Climbing Championships here on Sunday.

Long, who represents Guizhou province, clocked 5.00 seconds in the third-place contest and claimed the bronze, breaking the national record which had just been created by himself.

Earlier that day, the 19-year-old finished 5.04 seconds in the preliminary, surpassing the previous mark of 5.05 seconds created by his teammate in China's national team Long Jinbao at the IFSC Climbing World Cup stop in Chamonix last year.

"I haven't been in good shape since the winter training camp, so I planned to compete without reservation this time to stimulate myself and find my rhythm, "said Long after the preliminary.

The new record holder showed great ambition as he repeated the feat of 5.04 seconds again in the 1/4 round, but his journey toward the final was halted when he met Long Jinbao in the semifinal.

"I compete with him many times both on the international stage and in domestic competitions and I have lost almost every time, so it's a great challenge for me to face him and I have to deal with this problem in the future," Long Jianguo talked about his exit.

"After the clash with Jinbao I felt relaxed, that's probably why I was able to push the limits and win the bronze," he added.

In the final, Long Jinbao was 0.11 seconds behind Zhang Liang, who won the dramatic gold with 5.02 seconds.

In women's discipline, Deng Lijuan grabbed the gold with 6.91 seconds. Zhang Shaoqin and Zhou Yafei joined her on the podium with second and third finishes respectively.