World Natural Heritage World Geopark The First National Forest Park of China
More than 60 parkour athletes from 18 countries gathered at Tianmen Mountain National Forest Park in Zhangjiajie, Central China's Hunan province, for a two-day parkour competition, which concluded on Thursday.
First held in 2022, the event is renowned for featuring what many competitors consider the world's most challenging course — the iconic 999-step staircase leading to Tianmen Cave. Participants are required to navigate a nearly 300-meter-long slope with a 150-meter vertical drop from the top of the staircase, tackling 108 obstacles through a series of jumps and flips.
This year, the event returned after a hiatus last year but faced disruptions due to unstable mountain weather. Following safety assessments by the organizing committee and judges, only the men's freestyle final was completed on the last day. Sweden's Elis Torhall claimed the title with a fluid and high-difficulty routine.
The women's freestyle and men's speed finals were canceled due to bad weather. Organizers decided that the final rankings for these events would be based on preliminary results. China's Shang Chunsong won the women's freestyle title, while Li Yiqi secured victory in the men's speed event.
The 4th Tianmen Mountain the Highest Ladder Parkour Competition is held on Nov 4-5 in Zhangjiajie.
Source from chinadaily
