Climbing Star Lee Do-hyun Overcomes Initial Zero to Secure Dramatic Silver

South Korean sports climbing star Lee Do-hyun has claimed a valuable silver medal, showing fierce resilience after starting with a zero on his first boulder.

Lee finished second with a total score of 49.7 points in the men's bouldering final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, held today (the 30th) at the Portmesse Nagoya Exhibition Hall No. 1 in Japan.

With this result, Lee has won silver medals in two consecutive Asian Games, following his combined silver at the 2022 Hangzhou Games.

However, he fell just short of gold once again, failing to surpass his Japanese rival Sorato Anraku, much like the previous tournament.

As the last of the eight finalists to climb, Lee started with a score of zero on the first boulder after failing to reach any scoring zone. However, he bounced back on the second boulder, successfully topping it after just one fall to earn 24.9 points.

He added 24.8 points on the third boulder, succeeding with only two falls. Lee and Anraku were the only two climbers to solve the third boulder.

On the final fourth boulder, Anraku failed to even reach the zone and finished with zero points, opening up a dramatic chance for Lee to turn the tables. However, Lee also failed to overcome the final crux and could not overturn the result.

Having proved his tenacity with a dramatic silver medal, Lee aims to regroup and make another bid for his first gold of the competition during the upcoming lead event.

Chon Jong-won, who became the inaugural men's sport climbing gold medalist at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games, finished fifth with 30 points.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.