KATHMANDU (REUTERS) - Climbers from the United States and Hong Kong have set new records as they scaled Mount Everest this week, hiking officials said on Friday (May 28).

Mr Arthur Muir, 75, became the oldest American to climb the world's highest peak at 8,848.86m on Sunday, an official from the company that organised the expedition said.

Separately, Hong Kong's Ms Tsang Yin-Hung, 45, scaled the peak in less than 26 hours, the shortest time taken by any woman after starting from the base camp. Usually climbers spend several days in different camps before reaching the peak.

"Arthur Muir is the oldest American at 75 years old to summit Mount Everest," Mr Garrett Madison, expedition leader at the Madison Mountaineering company said from the base camp.

Mr Muir beat the record set by Mr Bill Burke, who became the oldest American to climb the mountain at the age of 67 in 2009.

Ms Tsang set out from the base camp at 1.20pm local time on Saturday and reached the top at 3.10pm the following day, said Mr Gyanendra Shrestha, a Nepal government official, who returned from the base camp.

She beat the record set by Nepali woman Phunjo Jhangmu Lama in 2017, who climbed Everest in 39 hours and 6 minutes.