KUALA LUMPUR, Feb. 10 -- At 2am in a Beijing airport, Soh Wai Ching was curled up in a toilet stall using his bag as a pillow. The organiser of his latest race had messed up his hotel booking - with no money for a last-minute room, that was his only option.

The next morning, stiff and exhausted, he raced up a skyscraper against the world's best.

This is the life of a tower running champion, a sport where world titles bring little money, athletes travel the world on shoestring budgets, and races last only a few minutes.

Soh, 30, may be Malaysia's most relentless athlete, but unless you are a tower running enthusiast, you have probably never heard of him. He was the world's number one tower runner from 2022 until November 2024, but unles...