Meet the 15-year-old quietly putting India on the global speed climbing map

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At 15, Amieyra Khoslla has rewritten Indian speed climbing history with a blistering 7.60-second climb at the World Youth Championships. But her story is bigger than a national record. It could signal the arrival of a new Olympic sport for India
Amieyra Khoslla
Amieyra Khoslla Credits: X

She ran straight up a wall. In 7.60 seconds.

That's all it took for 15-year-old Amieyra Khoslla to etch her name into Indian sporting history.

At the IFSC World Youth Climbing Championships in Arco, Italy, the Delhi teenager became the fastest Indian youth speed climber ever, smashing the national youth record and finishing sixth in the world against the sport's brightest young talents.

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For a country where speed is measured in sprint times, this was a different kind of race.

Fifteen metres of vertical concrete. No second chances. One explosive climb. And one teenager who refused to blink. Twice faster in the same championship

The record wasn't supposed to fall once. It fell twice. Khoslla first clocked 7.74 seconds in the qualification round, eclipsing her previous personal best. Hours later, she climbed even faster. 7.60 seconds. A new personal best. A new Indian National Youth Record. A reminder that some athletes don't just chase the clock. They force it to keep up.

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India has produced world champions in boxing, wrestling, badminton and athletics. Sport climbing is still waiting for its breakout star.

Khoslla may be one. Olympic speed climbing coach Albert Ok, who has trained some of the world's elite climbers, believes the teenager possesses the talent and temperament to compete at the highest level. He says her rapid improvement in recent weeks has been exceptional and that, with sustained international coaching and support, she can become one of the faces of Indian climbing.

Perhaps the most fascinating part of Khoslla's story is this. She is already one of India's promising young sprinters. She has won silver in the 100 metres at the SGFI National School Games, represented the country in athletics, owns a personal best of 12.57 seconds over 100 metres and has dominated the Delhi state championships for three consecutive years.

Speed has always been her gift. She has simply found a different direction to unleash it. Not across a track. Up a wall. Speed climbing only entered the Olympics recently. In India, it still lives far away from the spotlight. But performances like this have a way of changing conversations. They make federations pay attention. They inspire younger athletes. They convince parents that unconventional dreams can be worth chasing.

For Khoslla, finishing sixth in the world is not the destination. She says breaking her personal best twice on the biggest stage has given her confidence that she can compete with the world's finest. She also hopes her journey encourages more young Indians to discover a sport that remains largely invisible despite its Olympic status. The stopwatch says 7.60 seconds. The bigger story may take years to unfold. But if Indian speed climbing is searching for its first genuine poster girl, it may already have found one.

(With inputs from ANI)