Paris, France, August 9, 2024: Japan’s Asian Games sport climbing champion Sorato Anraku won the silver medal in the boulder and lead event at Le Bourget Climbing Venue on Friday.
Sport climbing made its debut at Tokyo 2020 but combined the three disciplines of lead, boulder and speed into a single competition. This time, speed is separate, leaving boulder and lead as one event.
Anraku led all athletes on boulder with 69.3 points and managed 76.1 on lead, the fifth best score of eight finalists, giving him a total of 145.4 points.
This was good enough for the silver medal behind Great Britain’s Toby Roberts, who scored 63.1 on boulder and 92.1 on lead for a total of 155.2, almost 10 points clear of the Japanese.
Austria’s Jakob Schubert took the bronze with 139.6 comprised of 43.6 on boulder and 96.0, the highest score of all finalists, in lead.
High school student Anraku said he was aiming for gold, and was training hard for this, so he felt a little bit disappointed. “My aim at least was to get on the podium, so it’s OK,” he added.
Champion Roberts described Anraku as “very, very strong” and said it was great to have him there as a competitor and friend, as they had come through the youth scene together.
Anraku was a convincing winner of the Hangzhou Asian Games lead and boulder event last year, and was the only climber in the final eight to top all four boulder problems.