In 2007, Katibin saw sport climbing for the first time in a Batang city square during the Provincial Sports Week.[1]
Since 2009, Katibin has been training with his brother.[2] He was motivated to pursue sport climbing because he enjoyed meeting many friends, but he started winning national-level championships. His first medal was in the lead climbing competition at the 2011 National Championships. He also won the speed climbing gold medal at the 2016 National Championships and the speed climbing gold medal at the 2017 National Championships.[3]
Career
Katibin collected his first senior international medal, winning silver at the 2019 Asian Championships in Bogor, Indonesia.[4]
On 28 May 2021, Katibin set a record for the fastest-ever ascent in competition speed climbing with a record of 5.25 seconds in the qualifying round of a IFSC World Cup event in Salt Lake City, United States. The record had been held by Reza Alipour who climbed in 5.48 seconds in 2017. He finished the competition with a silver medal, losing the same day in the final race to his compatriot Veddriq Leonardo, who set a new world record of 5.20 seconds.[5] In July 2021, Katibin won a bronze at the Villars World Cup.[6] He finished the 2021 World Cup series in second place overall.
On 6 May 2022, Katibin regained the world record from Leonardo with a 5.17-second run in the qualifying round of the World Cup event in Seoul, South Korea.[7] On 27 May, he lowered his own world record with 5.10 seconds in the qualifying round of the World Cup event in Salt Lake City.[8] On 30 June, he broke the record for the fourth time in the IFSC World Cup Villars qualifiers with 5.097 seconds and improved his record again later that day with a 5.04-second run.[9] On 8 July, Katibin set the world record for the seventh time in 14 months with a time of 5.009 seconds at the Chamonix World Cup qualifying round.[10]
In July 2022, Katibin won the silver medal at the World Games in Birmingham, Alabama, United States, losing to Leonardo in the final.[11]
In April 2023, Katibin lost the world record to Leonardo, who recorded runs of 4.984 and 4.9000 seconds at the 2023 IFSC Climbing World Cup in Seoul.[12]
