Sport Climbing Star Seo Chae-hyun Wins Gold in Women's Lead

South Korean sport climbing star Seo Chae-hyun (Seoul City Hall / The North Face) has brought home the country's first Asian Games gold medal in the sport in eight years.

Seo claimed the gold medal by reaching the top in the women's lead final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games held at the Port Messe Nagoya exhibition center in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, today (the 3rd), beating her rival Mori Ai of Japan (47+).

Seo is only the second South Korean sport climber to win a gold medal at the Asian Games, following Chun Jong-won, who won the combined event at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games.

Lead climbing is an event where athletes compete to climb the highest on a 15-meter artificial wall within a time limit of six minutes, emphasizing endurance along with "route finding" to analyze the course in advance for efficient energy distribution.

The "TOP" signifies completing the route up to the final hold.

Having won a silver medal in the combined event at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games and a bronze medal in boulder climbing at the current games, Seo finally reached the summit of Asia by capturing the gold in her signature lead event.

Advancing to the final in joint first place after receiving a TOP score alongside Mori in the semifinals, Seo appeared last among the eight athletes, steadily accumulating points to swiftly outpace the other seven competitors and secure the gold medal with a perfect score.

Kim Chae-young (Jeonju Bawi Oreum) finished in fourth place with a score of 38+.

She narrowly lagged behind bronze medalist Zhang Xuetong of China (39+).

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