Boulder qualification began at the IFSC Climbing World Championships 2025 in Seoul, South Korea with the men the first out on the wall for their round of action.
Ninety began but only 24 could make it through to the semi-final, and with a strong start list of climbers, the competition was fierce.
With so many competitors the climbers were split into two groups, and it was Team Japan who led the way in both after five boulders were completed.
No one in either group got more than three tops, and it was Anraku Sorato and Narasaki Meichi who posted that score for joint-first position.
The home crowd were in good spirits as home nation climber Lee Dohyun progressed in third spot alongside Olympic champion Toby Roberts.
The British climber has spoken about mental resilience all season after that victory at Paris 2024, and he needed it again after missing out on the lead semi-finals yesterday: “It’s been up and down, basically the whole season really, but not making Lead semi-finals I am really disappointed with as I am more of a Lead climber, but to bounce back and make semi-finals in Boulder – I’m pretty psyched.”
Talking specifically about his round Roberts said: “It was quite a hard round; there weren’t so many tops. I was happy with slab and one of the only tops on that I think so that kind of got me into the semi-final.”
Roberts was in fact the only climber to top the slab as the majority of climbers failed to even make the zone.
Needing his slab strength and mental resilience, Roberts aims for a better finish to his World Championships than how it started: “I need to reset and focus and try to get into the Boulder final. The Lead didn’t go how I wanted, but I can’t let that affect my Boulder competition.”