Yesterday, both of them won the men’s and women’s open titles after scaling 1,002 steps at Bitexco Financial Tower in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in the HCMC Sky Run.

Wai Ching completed the climbing challenge in four minutes and 54 seconds while Jennifer did it in a little over nine minutes.

In the overall standings, Wai Ching, who was three seconds off the course record, was the top male stair climber while Jennifer was third among the women.

Both of them were also part of the four-member Malaysian Towerrunning Association side that won the team title by a comfortable margin.

The other runners who made up the first Malaysian team at an international tower run were Justin Low and Ervin Nuing Anak Smail.

All of them ran their individual races about 20 minutes after the team event in a test of endurance and tenacity.

Justin, running in his 10th international tower run, finished third in the men’s open while Ervin, who took up the sport five months ago, came in seventh.

For Jennifer, it was only her second international tower running competition, having made her debut in the UK’s tallest stair climb at the 62-storey 22 Bishopsgate Tower on Oct 22.

Wai Ching won the race up 1,120 steps in London after producing four straight tower run wins in nine days in the US from Sept 30.

Penang-born Jennifer, 28, said Wai Ching’s “amazing” achievements in tower runs worldwide had inspired her to take up the sport in March.

She said Wai Ching saw her talent on social media and offered to train her, before making her his manager and publicist.

“I will take part in more competitions and hopefully, I will become the top female tower runner in the world,” said Jennifer, who often trains at the 74-floor Sky Suites KLCC in Kuala Lumpur.

She said she was thankful to her teammates for their support and hoped their success at the world level will get tower running included as a sport in the 2027 Kuala Lumpur Sea Games.