The scores were tight at the end of the Boulder portion of the men’s Combined final at the Paris Olympics; Japan’s Sorato Anraku held just a one-point lead over Team USA’s Colin Duffy. Great Britain’s Toby Roberts and Hamish McArthur were high in the standings as well, with Austria’s Jakob Schubert trailing after a scoring downgrade. It all set the stage for a thrilling Lead portion on a route of low black spheres, yellow geometric volumes, and blue dishes at the “technical” headwall. Here were the biggest and best moments from the Lead portion, the “grand finale” of the men’s Sport Climbing discipline at the 2024 Olympics.
Great Britain’s Hamish McArthur had the unenviable role of climbing first and waiting for the remainder of the round to find out where he landed in the standings. Still, he managed to give the crowd a camera-worthy moment when he purposely cut his feet in the lower section of the route, at a point where each handhold was worth one point. McArthur’s climb ended much higher on the wall as he slid off at a cruxy blue dish on the headwall. But, as commentator Jonny Bryan proclaimed, McArthur’s final Combined score of 125.9 “set the target for the rest [of the finalists] to chase.”
Team USA’s Colin Duffy had some slight hesitation as he transitioned from a section of yellow geometric volumes to black volumes, but it ended up providing one of the most heart-pounding and exciting moments early in the Lead portion. When he sank into a heel hook for a rest a couple moves later, it was as if the entire world was taking a much-needed breath with him. He eventually fell on the headwall, in the same section of blue dishes that had stymied McArthur moments earlier, but Duffy rocketed to the top of the leaderboard when his points on the lead wall (68.1) were added to his points from the boulders (68.3).
France’s Paul Jenft entered the Lead portion in a fairly deep hole in the scores, having earned only 24.4 points on the boulders. In other words, even if Jenft managed to have the lead performance of his life, the likelihood was slim that he would finish the competition with a spot on the podium. In light of that, his biggest moment came in a more artistic way. He found a no-hands rest with a kneebar as he entered the section of yellow volumes midway up the route. The crowd in Paris loved it, and they showed their adoration by roaring for their hometown hero.
Austria’s Jakob Schubert is not usually thought of as a particularly quick climber, but he breezed onto the headwall and seemed to still have a lot of energy as he entered the upper crux of blue dishes. By the time he fell in a right-hand cross sequence to the finish hold, he had managed to establish a new high point, and with that, he took the lead in the Combined format. A resultant standing ovation from the crowd will remain a lasting memory of the Paris Olympics.
The unfortunate logistical reality for Spain’s Alberto Ginés López and Czech Republic’s Adam Ondra was that neither competitor was in podium contention by the time he took to the lead route. In Ginés López’s case, an eventual lead score of 92.1—which entailed making significant progress through the headwall—resulted in seventh place. And for Ondra, matching Schubert’s high point at the very top of the lead wall was not enough to make up for a low score on the boulders. Still, commentator Jonny Bryan framed the situation aptly, noting that both Ginés López (the defending Olympic champion) and Ondra were “climbing for pride.” The 6,000 spectators in attendance seemed to think so as well, and the synergy between the crowd and the competitors was evident.
Great Britain’s Toby Roberts was the penultimate climber. He was not able to match Schubert’s high point, but he climbed high enough to take the Combined lead. In that regard, Roberts’s biggest contribution was in taking the competition down to the wire and putting all the pressure on the last climber, Japan’s Sorato Anraku. For a moment, as Anraku blazed through the lower section of the route and entered the headwall, it seemed as if Anraku was destined for gold. But it was not meant to be—Anraku fell as he reached with his right hand for a jib on a blue dish, significantly lower on the wall than Roberts. As a result, Roberts was declared the winner of the gold medal, with Anraku earning the silver medal and Schubert earning bronze.
There are many takeaways from the final round. In earning the bronze medal, Schubert established himself as a two-time Olympic medalist (having also earned bronze at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021). In earning the silver medal, 17-year-old Anraku amassed one of the most impressive performances we’ve ever seen from such a young climber. And in winning gold, 19-year-old Roberts completed an Olympic dream that famously began with an Olympic training plan six years ago(!)—a plot point that should become one of the most celebrated in Olympic lore.
Most of all, at the risk of getting ahead of ourselves, the success of such young competitors already establishes a lot of intrigue for the 2028 Olympics.
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