Sports Bulletin Report
Salt Lake City (USA): An action-packed competition day in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, concluded with three gold medallists awarded inside the USA Climbing Training Center – Anraku Sorato of Japan in the men’s Boulder event, Emma Hunt of the USA in the women’s Speed event, and Samuel Watson, also of the USA, in the men’s Speed event.
The first medal went to Japanese rising star Anraku, who dominated the Boulder final and stepped on the highest section of the podium for the fifth time in his young career – the second one in the discipline. Anraku took the lead right out of the gate, topping M1 in his second attempt and only missing the solution of the following M2, which none of his opponents managed to top either.
Two more Japanese climbers competed in the final round, with Narasaki Meichi eventually landing next to Anraku on the podium, in silver medal position. The younger brother of Tomoa concluded his final with only one top in total – on M3 – but thanks to the fact that he flashed it, he was able to place ahead of Austria’s Jakob Schubert – third – and Japan’s Amagasa Sohta – fourth.
All three climbers finished with one top and four zones, with attempts-to-top breaking the tie between Narasaki and Schubert, and attempts-to-zone doing the same between Schubert and Amagasa. The second Austrian climber participating in the final, Jan-Luca Posch, followed in fifth place, while Germany’s Yannick Flohé placed sixth. The night closed with Team USA pocketing two Speed World Cup golds with Emma Hunt and Samuel Watson.