NAGOYA — South Korea's top sport climber Lee Do-hyun rallied from a scoreless opening problem to claim a dramatic silver medal.
Lee scored 49.7 points to finish second in the men's bouldering final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, held on the 30th at Port Messe Nagoya's Exhibition Hall No. 1 in Nagoya, Japan. Sorato Anraku of Japan won gold with 74.5 points, while Tomoa Narasaki of Japan took bronze with 44.9 points.
The result put Lee on the podium for a second consecutive Asian Games, after his combined silver at the 2023 Hangzhou Games. He is the only South Korean climber to win multiple medals in the sport since it became an official Asian Games event at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games.
Still, losing the title to his rival Anraku for a second straight Games left him short of his goal.
Climbing last among the eight finalists, Lee faltered on the first problem, scoring zero. The opening attempt threw off his rhythm, but he mounted a fierce comeback over the rest of the final. He topped the second problem after one fall to collect 24.9 points, then overcame two failed attempts to reach the top of the third for another 24.8 points. Only Lee and Anraku solved the third problem.
The fourth problem decided the color of the medal. Anraku, climbing earlier, failed to reach even the zone and scored zero, opening the door for Lee to overtake him. But Lee could not conquer the final wall either. None of the eight finalists topped the fourth problem. Lee will chase his first gold of the Games in the lead final on Oct. 3.
Chun Jong-won, who competed alongside Lee, scored 10 points on each of the first three problems to finish fifth with 30 points. Chun, the inaugural men's combined champion at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games, when bouldering and lead were scored together, fell short in his bid to reclaim the title after eight years. Unlike Lee, Chun is not entered in the lead event.
