Seo Chae-hyeon (Seoul City Hall·The North Face), regarded as the face of Korean women’s sport climbing, won bronze in “bouldering,” securing medals at two straight events.
On the 1st at the Nagoya International Exhibition Hall in Japan, Seo Chae-hyeon placed third with 70 points in the women’s bouldering final of the “2026 Aichi·Nagoya Asian Games” sport climbing. Bouldering is an event in which athletes climb various structures set on a wall roughly 4–5 meters high without safety equipment such as ropes.
Seo Chae-hyeon topped the semifinals with a perfect 100 points by “flashing,” or topping, all four problems on the first attempt. In the final, she topped the first and second problems for 50 points but added only 10 points on the third. She also failed to top the fourth problem and, in cumulative score, finished third behind Zhang Yetong (China) and Mori Ai (Japan).
Seo Chae-hyeon will compete in her main event, “lead,” on the 3rd in pursuit of her first gold. Seo is currently ranked No. 2 in the world in lead. Her bouldering level is around No. 22.
Seo Chae-hyeon won silver in “combined (bouldering+lead)” at the previous 2022 Hangzhou Games. Starting with this event, the two disciplines are separated and held individually.
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