Jumping for joy: Shang clinches world Parkour title in Beijing

Ten years on from her artistic gymnastics career highlight at Rio 2016, 30-year-old Shang Chunsong has reinvented herself, recapturing the global spotlight as an elite parkour freestyler.

The Chinese Olympic bronze medalist made headlines in Beijing on Sunday by winning the women’s freestyle final at the 2026 Parkour World Cup series’ third and final leg, scoring 26.8 points with a string of difficult tricks across bars and walls to bag her second title on the Cup circuit this year, while finishing on top of the overall season standings.

Japan's Nene Nagai took silver with 22.3 points, and Dutch athlete Isa Smits claimed bronze with 21.1 points.

It was the first international parkour event held in Beijing, and the first time the Cup series returned to the country since its 2019 event in Chengdu, Sichuan province.

The Beijing leg was staged at the square in front of the iconic Shougang Big Air slope, which hosted the freestyle skiing and snowboarding disciplines at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

"The win means a lot. Today the stands were packed," said Shang. "I saw so many kids from parkour clubs come to watch me compete. Chinese parkour has been developing so fast over the past two years, and I hope more kids will join the parkour family."

Born in a mountainous village in Yongshun county, Hunan province, Shang began gymnastics training at seven, and it didn’t take long before she found success, winning three gold medals at the 2013 National Games — all-around, uneven bars and floor exercise — at the age of 17, proving her talent at the senior level.

Shang, however, has never topped the international podium, with her highest international accolade coming at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where she captained the Chinese women’s squad to a bronze-medal finish in the artistic gymnastics team event.

Since pivoting to parkour in 2022, Shang has completed a “Grand Slam” in the increasingly popular urban sport, winning freestyle gold at the 2024 world championships in Kitakyushu, Japan; the 2025 World Games in Chengdu and this season’s Cup series opener in Montpellier, France, in May.

Parkour grew out of France's 1990s street scene and joined the FIG competitive framework in 2017, making its World Games debut in Birmingham in 2022. Competitive parkour is split into timed speed races on fixed routes and freestyle, where athletes design their own 20-45 second runs that are scored on stunt difficulty and execution.

Spanish coach Pablo Perez said athletes can still express themselves under competition rules: "Each athlete can show their strong points, and they can do freestyle moves they really like to do."

Shang said parkour's free and open essence matched her outgoing personality.

"Finding your passion is what makes you shine," she said. "I just want to show people the best side of me, and I hope to bring them joy.

“I’d like to continue training and competing through the 2032 season. Hopefully, parkour will make it into the Olympic program by then. It seems a long shot, but I will hang in there.”