Anraku Sorato reached the top of the final boulder on his second attempt, and the title in Keqiao stayed with him. With the title on the line, Anraku faltered on his first attempt but held his nerve to nail the win on his second, drawing loud cheers from the crowd and sealing gold. His score of 84.4 points confirmed a second straight victory at the season-opening World Climbing Series event.
How the final was decided
The day began in the athlete's own image. Anraku topped the semi-final in the morning, reaching the top on all boulders and earning 99.6 points. The final asked harder questions. Anraku reached the top on three of the four boulders, needed multiple attempts on each, and struggled in particular with the third, yet his rivals missed several tops and his tenacity paid off with a winning score.
The order of play kept the result open until the last problem. Schalck led after the first three boulders, with Anraku and Narasaki close behind, but the final problem proved decisive; six of the eight finalists, including Schalck and Narasaki, failed to score on the last boulder. Then came the twist. Lee, seemingly out of medal contention earlier in the round, vaulted into the lead by topping the last boulder in two attempts, piling pressure on Anraku. The Japanese climber answered, and the margin held. The 19-year-old, the reigning world boulder champion, topped a stacked field that included lead world champion Lee Do-hyun of South Korea, boulder world silver medallist Mejdi Schalck of France, and former World Cup winners Pan Yufei of China and Tomoa Narasaki of Japan. Lee took silver, with Schalck claiming bronze.
A place in the trajectory
The win extends a pattern rather than beginning one. It marked Anraku's sixth career boulder title and his second consecutive season-opening victory in Keqiao, where he has now reached the podium three times. He arrived as the man to beat, a reputation built on results across the past year. Anraku finished first in the boulder world rankings last season, and as an Olympic silver medallist he came into Keqiao among the favourites.
Anraku was generous about the company that sharpened him.
"Climbers like Mejdi and Lee Dohyun, as well as all the other finalists, really push me. Because of them, I'm able to perform at a higher level," he said.
Another season, the same first step, taken the same way.
