Toby Roberts‘ rollercoaster sport climbing season continues.
The Paris 2024 gold medallist in the combined boulder and lead event put aside the disappointment of missing out on making the semi-final of his favoured lead discipline on the first day of the IFSC Climbing World Championships in Seoul to qualify for the men’s boulder semi-final the following day, Tuesday (23 September).
“I need to reset and focus and try to get into the boulder final,” said the Brit of the semi-final and final that take place on the last day of the championships on Sunday,” Roberts told world governing body, the IFSC, afterwards.
“The lead didn’t go how I wanted, but I can’t let that affect my boulder competition.
Roberts qualified third, ahead of the home nation’s Lee Dohyun in fourth, and compatriot Jack MacDougall in fifth, but it was Olympic silver medallist, Anraku Sorato and his compatriot from Japan, Narasaki Meichi, who jointly topped the leader board in the first round.
In the women’s event later the same day, climbing legend Janja Garnbret surprisingly sat in third on the table, nevertheless qualifying easily for the semi-finals.
Tamar Cohen of Israel and Ito Futaba of Japan progressed ahead of the Slovenian, respectively, while France’s climbing sensation, Oriane Bertone, who this season claimed the overall boulder World Cup title for the first time, qualified in fourth.