Sport Climbing Star Seo Chae-hyun Advances to Bouldering Final with a Perfect Score

South Korean women's sport climbing ace Seo Chae-hyun (Seoul City Hall / The North Face) has taken a step closer to the gold medal by advancing to the final after receiving a perfect score in the bouldering semifinals at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

Competing in the women's bouldering semifinals held at the Nagoya International Exhibition Hall in Japan on the 30th, Seo advanced to the final with a maximum score of 100 points (25 points per boulder), showcasing an impressive flash streak by conquering all four problems on her very first attempts.

Seo, whose specialty is lead climbing, advanced to the final first in the bouldering event, raising hopes for a double crown at the competition.

Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver medalist Miho Nonaka of Japan also solved all four problems with 99.8 points, but finished second, trailing Seo by 0.2 points after needing three attempts to complete the third problem.

Noh Hee-ju (Busan Family Alpine Club), who competed alongside her, finished in 7th place with 69.8 points after topping two of the four problems, securing a ticket to the final, which is awarded to the top 8 athletes.

In the women's bouldering final taking place on October 1, two athletes each from South Korea, Japan, China, and Singapore will compete for the gold medal.

Meanwhile, Cho Jin-yong (Hankwang High School) and Kim Dong-jun (Chungbuk Sports Council / Taki Climbing Center), competing in the men's speed event, joined the 16 finalists by finishing 9th (5.04 seconds) and 14th (5.38 seconds) respectively among 19 participating athletes.

The men's speed final will also be held on October 1.

(Photo courtesy of the Korean Alpine Federation, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.