▲ Lee Do-hyun roaring in celebration
South Korean men's sport climbing star Lee Do-hyun (Seoul City Hall / The North Face) has successfully cleared the first hurdle in his hunt for his first-ever Asian Games gold medal.
Competing in the men's bouldering semifinals at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games held at the Nagoya International Exhibition Hall in Japan on the 29th, Lee scored 99.7 points to finish first among 15 participants, securing his spot in the final.
His rival, Sorato Anraku of Japan, who is competing with him for the gold, finished second with 99.3 points, just 0.4 points behind.
Chon Jong-won (Daejeon City Sports Council / The North Face), who claimed the inaugural men's sport climbing gold medal at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games, placed sixth with 74.7 points, earning a ticket to the final, which is awarded to the top eight climbers.
▲ Lee Do-hyun
Lee, who won the silver medal in the men's combined event at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, displayed dominant skills in today's semifinals by topping all four boulder problems.
Notably, he achieved flashes on both the 2nd and 4th problems, succeeding on his very first attempt for each.
Anraku also topped all four problems, but fell behind Lee in the number of attempts, finishing in second place by a 0.4-point margin.
Chon started off shaky by failing the first problem, but successfully solved the remaining three to join the final.
Accordingly, Lee and Chon will eye medals in the final scheduled for the 30th.
The final will feature eight athletes: two from South Korea, two from Japan, two from China, one from Thailand, and one from Singapore.
In the women's speed preliminaries held afterward, Jung Ji-min (Seoul City Hall / The North Face) and Sung Han-areum (Jungbu Gyeongnam Climbing) placed second (6.25 seconds) and sixth (6.84 seconds) respectively among 17 competitors, advancing to the top-eight final.
The final on the 30th will feature two athletes each from South Korea, China, Indonesia, and Japan.
▲ Jung Ji-min
Jung previously won a bronze medal in the women's speed relay at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games.
(Photo courtesy of the Korean Alpine Federation, Yonhap News)
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