The final act has it’s cast with the men’s Boulder semi-final confirming the eight climbers who will take a shot at the final medal on offer at the IFSC Climbing and Para Climbing World Championships Seoul 2025.
After disappointing result in Lead, Japan’s Anraku Sorato is once again where he feels comfortable, at the top of the overall standings.
Anraku was the only climber to top all four semi-final boulders and progressed in first with 99.2pts.
While Anraku was disappointed in Lead, South Korea’s Lee Dohyun was elated winning the title, and he is on for another medal in front of his home crowd moving into the final in second position with a 84.8pts score.
Coming out earlier in the round was Austria’s Jan-Luca Posch who had to sit and wait to see if anyone, and if so how many, could beat his score of 84.3pts. As it turned out it was just Anraku and Lee.
After the round Posch said: “It’s surreal. I imagined myself in a World Championships final so many times, and now it has happened it just feels surreal.”
Asked whether he thought the semi-final boulders suited him Posch said: “Yes. Especially the first one was really my style. I knew that I would have a really high chance to send it, and when I did I could get into a really good flow and carry it on throughout the round.”
Posch has made World Cup final in 2025 and has a little experience to take on the last round, and looking at the four final boulder he said: “Now I just hope I can extract everything I have inside me and express myself on the wall, and then the results will come if I climb well.”
The top four all topped at least three semi-final boulders, and France’s Mejdi Schalck was the climber in fourth with 84.2pts.
The last four final places came down to two tops and attempts, and two of those spots were taken up by siblings – Japan’s Meichi and Tomoa Narasaki. Tomoa was fifth with 69.8pts and Meichi was in eighth with 69.4pts.
In sixth and seventh are two climbers who will contest their first ever world level final. Great Britain’s Jack MacDougall socred 69.7pts for his sixth place and Germany’s Thorben Perry Bloem scored 69.6pts for his seventh place.
With nothing to lose in the final, MacDougall and Bloem will take heart from USA’s Melina Costanza who took a bronze medal in the women’s Boulder in her first ever world final last night.
Full men’s Boulder qualification results can be found here
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