China's Shang wins women's freestyle parkour gold after scoring reversal at Chengdu World Games

CHENGDU, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- China's Shang Chunsong clinched the women's freestyle parkour gold at The World Games 2025 on Wednesday after a dramatic scoring reversal that turned her initial second-place finish into a victory.

Competing alongside the Xinglong Lake, the former captain of China's national women's gymnastics team delivered a series of high-difficulty tricks, including 360-degree aerial flips. A small flaw in her second rotation cost her points, but the crowd erupted in applause at the end of her routine.

Shang's difficulty score came in at 13.5 points, with an initial execution score of 9.2. That gave her a provisional total of 22.7, 0.2 points behind Japan's Nene Nagai, placing her second.

"I knew there was a mistake, but after landing I was confident I'd still be the gold medalist," said the 29-year-old, who last year became the first Chinese athlete to win both the World Cup and World Championship in parkour.

Tears flowed when Shang saw the scoreboard. But the turnaround came just before the medal ceremony. Officials informed her there had been an error in judging, and she was in fact the champion, with an adjusted total of 24.7 points. Nagai took silver, while Sara Banchoff Tzancoff of Argentina got bronze.

"There were blind spots in the venue, and some referees couldn't see certain movements," said referee Zhou Jun. "Three points were deducted for what was judged as a mistake, but after video review we unanimously agreed the penalty was too high and corrected it."

Despite the win, Shang didn't show much excitement. "The score wasn't posted immediately, and honestly I didn't perform as well as I can," she said. "In training I usually score 24 to 25, and have gone above 27."

Her coach, Sun Jie, said Shang can perform a 720-degree rotation - a move almost no female parkour athlete worldwide can execute. "She's a very talented athlete starting a new journey in parkour," he said.

Shang, who switched from gymnastics to parkour out of "pure love" for the sport, said the gold medal carries special meaning. "It completes my parkour Grand Slam," she said. "I want to show that Chinese parkour is strong, and I hope this inspires more people in China to join this amazing sport."

Sun, who has spent nearly 20 years promoting parkour in China, believes the sport has entered its best era yet in the country.

"Twenty years ago, few people was doing parkour here. Now we have professional clubs, young enthusiasts, and national competitions. I believe it will one day be part of the Olympics," he said. ■