The scoreboard flashed 6.078 — and for a moment, the arena in Meishan, China went quiet. Desak Made Rita Kusuma Dewi had just rewritten the history of speed climbing in Asia, finishing the 10-meter wall faster than any woman on the continent had ever done before.
She did not just win. She demolished a record that had stood for seven years — a number so stubborn that the sport had almost accepted it as a ceiling.

Who is Desak Made Rita Kusuma Dewi?

Desak Made Rita Kusuma Dewi, known widely as Desak or Rita, is an Indonesian speed climber from Singaraja, Bali. She began climbing at a young age and has since risen through the national ranks to become one of the most decorated athletes in the sport. In 2023, she won gold at the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) World Championships in Innsbruck — a feat that placed her firmly among the world's elite. She also took gold at PON XX Papua, the Indonesian national multi-sport games.
At the 2026 Asian Speed Climbing Championships in Meishan, China, she entered the women's speed event final and recorded a time of 6.078 seconds — breaking the previous Asian record of 6.995 seconds set by fellow Indonesian Aries Susanti Rahayu in 2019. In the semifinal, she had already clocked 6.15 seconds, a sign of what was coming.

What made this record so significant?

Speed climbing is a brutally simple sport. Two athletes race up identical 10-meter walls simultaneously. Fractions of a second are everything. Aries Susanti Rahayu's record of 6.995 seconds had survived since 2019 — six years of competitions, world cups, and Asian championships — before Desak shattered it by nearly a full second. In a sport where 0.1 seconds is a gap, 0.917 seconds is a generation.
The win was made more striking by the competition. Desak beat China's Zhou Yafei and Qin Yumei on home soil — in front of a crowd rooting for the Chinese team to take gold. The scoreboard showing an Indonesian flag above two Chinese names was not a small thing. It was a statement.

What is Indonesia's standing in speed climbing?

Indonesia is one of the dominant forces in international speed climbing. At the same championship in Meishan, Leonardo Veddriq also contributed a bronze medal in the men's event. The country has consistently produced top-ranked climbers, with Aries Susanti Rahayu holding world records and IFSC titles over the past decade. The sport has deep roots in the country, supported by Federasi Panjat Tebing Indonesia (FPTI), the national governing body.