The duo had triumphed in the lead events at last week’s competition in Cheongsong, South Korea and are aiming to repeat the feat at the second competition of the season in China’s capital city.

Tolokonina finished in first place in the women’s semi-finals after ending with a score of 15.280.

She was followed by Finland’s Enni Bertling and Poland’s Olga Kosek, who ended on 13.240 and 12.240 respectively.

The top eight climbers all secured places in tomorrow’s final, where combined world champion Tolokonina will again be the one to beat.

The Russian ended third in qualification for the speed event behind team-mates Ekaterina Koschcheeva and Natalia Savitskaia.

Semi-finals and the final of the speed event will be held tomorrow.

Kuzovlev secured first place in the men’s lead semi-finals standings as the Russian topped the wall and achieved a score of 6.12.

France’s Nathan Clair and South Korea’s Park Hee-yong also reached the top of the wall.

They finished with scores of 6.12 and 6.37 to round off the top three.

Russia’s Vladislav Iurlov led speed qualification, followed by Iran’s Rad Mohsen Beheshti and Russia’s Vladimir Kartashev.

Competition will conclude tomorrow.