KUALA LUMPUR: World No. 1 tower runner Soh Wai Ching finally cracked one of the toughest races on the Towerrunning Tour after winning the Shenzhen PingAn Finance Center International Vertical Marathon on Saturday.
After three previous attempts fell short, the Malaysian clinched the title on his fourth outing — and did so by breaking the course record by a single second.
Wai Ching clocked 19 minutes 23 seconds (19:23), edging past the previous mark of 19:24 set by Japan’s Ryoji Watanabe last year.
Watanabe settled for second in 19:39, while Australia’s Mark Bourne completed the podium in 20:13.
The victory marked Wai Ching’s second triumph in just over 10 days, having also won the Cinda International Financial Center Run Up in Shanxi on New Year’s Day.
The win completed a steady progression for Wai Ching at the Shenzhen event, held at the world’s fifth-tallest building.
He finished seventh on his debut in 2018, improved to third in 2019, placed second in 2025, and finally stood atop the podium this year.
The race, contested over 3,210 steps with a vertical elevation gain of 541 metres, carried 200 Tour points and attracted nearly all of the world’s top 10 athletes among a field of around 1,500 participants.