South Korean women's sports climbing star Seo Chae-hyun (Seoul City Hall / The North Face) has won the bronze medal in the women's boulder event at the Asian Games.

Having accomplished her first task of reaching the podium in boulder, which is not her primary event, Seo now sets her sights on a long-awaited gold-medal climb in her signature lead event.

Seo scored 70 points to claim the bronze medal in the women's boulder final of the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games held today at the Nagoya International Exhibition Hall in Japan.

After the competition, Seo shared her thoughts, saying, "Since I focused my preparation on lead, I thought I might fall short compared to athletes who dedicate themselves entirely to boulder. However, by enjoying the rounds comfortably from the qualifiers to the finals and focusing solely on my own climbing, good results followed."

Seo is currently ranked 2nd in the world in lead, while sitting at 22nd in boulder.

In the preceding semifinals, she posted a flash streak by completing all four problems on her first attempt, finishing first with a perfect score of 100 (25 points per problem).

Reflecting on the event, Seo said, "Because my semifinal results were good, I thought to myself that I had a real shot and felt a bit greedy, but I didn't pressure myself by thinking I absolutely had to finish first."

Having won a silver medal at the previous 2022 Hangzhou Games, Seo added a precious bronze medal today, securing medals in two consecutive Asian Games.

At the Hangzhou Games, where she competed in the combined (boulder and lead) event, the finals were abruptly canceled due to heavy rain, leading to her receiving the silver medal based on preliminary and semifinal results.

With a bright smile, Seo said, "I won a silver medal at the Hangzhou Games and now added a bronze here, so I want to complete the collection by winning a gold medal [in the remaining lead event]."

(Photo: Yonhap News)