Tomoa Narasaki Earns Gold at Boulder World Cup
At the first World Cup of 2024, a series of tough problems led to a tightly contested comp in Keqiao, China
Photo by: Kazushige Nakajima/IFSC
Earlier today, the first Boulder World Cup men’s final of 2024 was held in Keqiao, China. The competition was a bit of an odd one. Due to heavy rains, the men’s qualification round had to be cancelled. All climbers therefore moved through to the semi-final round, which was held using the qualification round format. Today’s final round was then held using a semi-final format. Instead of six climbers facing off, 20 climbers took the stage.
Tomoa Narasaki finished in first place, flashing two problems, and reaching zone on the two others. The win was his seventh Boulder World Cup gold medal, and 25th Boulder World Cup podium. Narasaki is one of Japan’s most decorated comp climbers. He has won the overall Boulder and Combined World Cup seasons twice. He has also earned three gold medals at the World Championships: twice in Boulder and once in Combined. He competed at the Tokyo Olympics and he has already qualified for the Paris Olympics this summer.
Following close behind Narasaki at the Keqiao comp was his teammate and comp-climbing prodigy Sorato Anraku in second place. Anraku flashed one problem, topped another, and reached zone on the two others. Anraku was the 2023 World Cup series standout, earning first place overall in both Boulder and Lead. Belgian Hannes van Duysen earned third place with two tops and one zone. “I’m happy to take the win,” said Narasaki after the finals.
“It’s important to get focused on the Olympic Games and it starts now with this win. I just have to continue training now for the Games.”
Great Britain’s Toby Roberts placed fourth and France’s Sam Avezou placed fifth. Soon-to-be Paris Olympians Jakob Schubert came in eighth and Colin Duffy 12th. Canadians Guy McNamee and Victor Baudrand didn’t make it past the first round, with McNamee placing 53rd and Baudrand 57th. The full results are listed below.
Men’s Final Results
- Tomoa Narasaki [JPN]
- Sorato Anraku [JPN]
- Hannes van Duysen [BEL]
- Toby Roberts [GBR]
- Sam Avezou [FRA]
- Meichi Narasaki [JPN]
- Jongwon Chon [KOR]
- Jakob Schubert [AUT]
- Maximillian Milne [GBR]
- Jan-Luca Posch [AUT]
- Anze Peharc [SLO]
- Colin Duff [USA]
- Dohyun Lee [KOR]
- Nicolai Uznik [AUT]
- Mickael Mawem [FRA]
- Ritsu Kayotani [JPN]
- Yuji Fujiwaki [JPN]
- Satone Yoshida [JPN]
- Dayan Akhtar [GBR]
- Ram Levin [ISR]
Keqiao Men’s Boulder World Cup Final
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