Introduction

Beijing-based Lijuan Deng started climbing at the age of 15. Later, she combined her training with a degree from the School of Management at Donghua University.

Due to the pandemic, Deng and the Chinese climbing team were absent from the circuit in 2020 and 2021 and their form was an unknown heading into the 2022 season. Deng returned with two back-to-back wins in the first two Speed World Cups of the year and showed that she had been training hard during the extensive lockdown and travel ban period. 

An IFSC World Cup win on home turf in Wujiang was a confidence boost and a good indication of Deng's form heading into the Jakarta qualifier event.

Qualification route

IFSC Asian Qualifier Jakarta 2023 - 1st place

Deng placed 10th in the Bern World Championships—a disappointing result by her 2023 standards. In Jakarta, Deng progressed by clocking clean runs against two falling opponents in the 1/4 and 1/2 final rounds. In the final, she held it together against Jimin Jeong (KOR) with a relatively slow but nonetheless decisive win.

"I am so excited right now," Deng told the IFSC afterwards. "This was the final race for the Olympic quota so I was a bit nervous but I managed to win it. I would like to thank my great country for supporting me to come here. I am not too concerned about the other climbers, I just focus on my performance and what I should do. And finally, I did it."

Trivia

In 2020, Deng and teammate Di Niu unofficially beat the World Record in a domestic competition. Deng recorded 6.987 seconds, with Niu even faster at 6.819 seconds. Both beat the world record at the time of (7.088 seconds) set by Indonesia's Aries Susanti Rahayu. However, since there were no IFSC officials due to the pandemic, the performance of Niu was not recognised as a new world record.

UKC prediction

Deng has limited championship and major event experience (and comparatively few World Cup participations). Some more exposure to big international events in 2024 pre-Paris could help to improve her chances of success in Paris. She is capable of a top-5 finish given her PB.