Gold medalists Wang "Monkey Z" Ruimiao (C1) and Liu "671" Qingyi (C2) of China pose for a photo after winning the solo men and women events at the Notorious IBE 2023 in Heerlen, the Netherlands, August 6, 2023.

Wang "Monkey Z" Ruimiao and Liu "671" Qingyi of China won the solo men and the solo women gold medals at the Notorious International Breakdance Competition (IBE) 2023 in Heerlen, the Netherlands, on Sunday.

Four Chinese dancers reached the quarterfinals in the solo events at this year's The Notorious IBE – Monkey Z and Shang "X-Rain" Xiaoyu in the men's event, 671 and Zeng "Yingzi" in the women's event.

Monkey Z beat Cleidson "Kley" Seabra de Almeida in the solo men final to win the title in his first international tournament overseas. He finished in the fifth place in the breakdancing solo man event at the National Games of China in 2021. He attended the workout for the Chinese National Breakdancing Team (CNBT) at the end of 2021, but failed after losing to X-Rain during the knockout stage.

Monkey Z battled months of bottlenecks after his national team failure. He focused on further refining his strength in performing difficult moves while still learning from others to fix his shortcomings, especially in creativity. Sunday's victory marked a milestone in his career.

671 beat Sya "Syssy" Dembele of France in the solo women final. She secured the silver medal in the World Dance Sport Federation (WDSF) World Breaking Championship in South Korea in 2022. She will compete in the event on behalf of China in the coming Asian Games in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, in October. 671 has also been working towards a breakdancing qualification for the Paris Olympic Games in 2024.

(All photos via Sina Weibo account of the CNBT)