Why Is Team Japan So Dominant?

There is currently no other national team on the comp climbing circuit with the depth of talent of Team Japan.  At every World Cup stop this year, Team Japan athletes have held at least two podium spots in one of the gender categories, a mind-blowing stat. When their best climbers sit out of an event – as Tomoa Narasaki, Sorato Anraku, Ai Mori, Miho Nonaka, and others did for the Briançon World Cup a few weeks ago – the team can still has a ton of talent they can rely upon. In Briançon for example, Japan swept the men’s podium and held six of the eight men’s finalist spots.

Japan is no stranger to sweeping podiums. The team took the top three spots at the men’s Boulder World Cup in Innsbruck a few weeks ago – the country’s third-ever Boulder World Cup podium sweep. At last year’s Briançon Lead World Cup, Team Japan incredibly swept the top six spots in the men’s final. Two months later at the Wujiang Lead World Cup, they swept the top four spots. At the Boulder & Lead Combined World Cup in 2022, the men swept the podium while teammate Ai Mori won gold in women’s.

So why is Team Japan so dominant? Alex Honnold posed this question to a few of his guests on his Climbing Gold podcast. Their responses have been compiled into one 10-minute video, which you can watch below. In the video, Honnold chats with:

• Matt Groom, IFSC World Cup Commentator
• Jesse Grupper, Team USA Paris Olympian in Boulder & Lead Combined
• Natalia Grossman, Team USA Paris Olympian in Boulder & Lead Combined
• Kai Lightner, pro climber with significant comp climbing experience
• Adam Ondra, Team Czechia Paris Olympian in Boulder & Lead Combined

According to these five experts, Team Japan’s dominance is due to a wide range of factors, including gym design, training style, problem setting, genetics, and culture. At the Paris Olympics, four athletes are reprenting Japan in the Boulder & Lead Combined event: Tomoa Narasaki, Sorato Anraku, Ai Mori, Miho Nonaka. All four climbers have solid chances of podiuming and even winning gold.

Alex Honnold and Climbing Experts on Team Japan Dominance