PETALING JAYA: World No. 1 tower runner Soh Wai Ching has broken yet another record by setting a new course timing at the 17th Dubai Holding Sky Run on Saturday.
Sprinting in the “Elite” category, Soh ran up 1,334 stairs at the 52-storey Jumeirah Emirates Towers in six minutes, 53 seconds to emerge overall champion.
The previous record was six minutes and 55 seconds, set by Piotr Lobodzinski from Poland in 2019.
Soh, who won multiple tower run competitions and broke records all over the world this year, said it was not an easy win as he collided with another runner during the race and later slipped on the staircase.
“This is my 12th Consecutive wins in Towerrunning competition on 12th consecutive Dubai Holding Sky Run. I am happy with it despite the two incidents. It will be a much faster time next year without the incidents and I will be much stronger next year.
“I am so grateful for the support of Malaysians in Dubai and everywhere around the world. Thanks everyone. (I am) proud to fly the Malaysia flag high for the final time internationally this year,” he said.
The 28-year-old from Selayang added that he is glad to have started his first international competition this year with a win in Dubai in February and end his last international competition for the year with a win in the same country.
About 250 competitors from 40 countries, aged 16 to 78, took part in the season-ending race. Ryoji Watanabe from Japan came in second to bag the silver medal while Fabio Ruga from Italy took the bronze.
Among notable achievements by Soh this year are four consecutive titles in the US in nine days, setting a new course record at the Cologne (Germany) Tower Run and a new course record for the inaugural “RNLI Tower Run” in London.
On June 30, Soh received a RM111,600 sponsorship for a year starting from July until June next year from the Better Malaysia Foundation to support him in his training and competitions.
