How fast can someone climb 15 meters——the height of a five-floor building? The answer from Chinese speed climber Cao Long is 4.98 seconds.

The 23-year-old climber is the third person to have finished the speed climbing route(竞速攀岩路线) within 5 seconds. The other two are Indonesian athletes Kiromal Katibin and Veddri q Leonardo. The records of Katibin and Leonardo are 5 seconds and 4.90 seconds. People call Cao"the fastest man in China"or"Chinese Spider-Man".

According to Cao, the result of speed climbing can change every time because it's a highly stressful race where two climbers compete at the same time. It's also a sport that finishes in seconds. If you want to succeed, everything has to be perfect.

Cao tried climbing at the age of 8. Like many kids who first got into climbing, Cao was mainly doing bouldering(抱石) and lead climbing(先锋攀岩). He was doing very well. However, he got injured and had a surgery(手术) at the age of 18. He then decided to try speed climbing because it uses different skills from bouldering and lead climbing and puts less pressure on his body.

It turned out that Cao was great at speed climbing as well, even though he thinks he is hardly the strongest athlete. He understands how to use his body to win."I know how to better divide power to different parts of my body," Cao said.

In his eyes, the national record of 4.98 seconds has become a thing of the past."I'll keep trying to do better and be better," said Cao.