Japan’s Anraku Sorato is back with a bang in 2025 taking the first men’s IFSC Boulder World Cup gold in Keqiao, China.

Despite winning a silver medal at Paris 2024, the young Japanese climber has very high standards of himself and is happy to return to the top step of the podium – a place he has started to feel very comfortable ever since his first senior season in 2023.

The Keqiao gold is Anraku’s third in Boulder at the World Cup level, but it wasn’t easy with South Korea’s Lee Dohyun seemingly on fire throughout the whole event.

Topping all four final boulders gave Anraku a score of 99.7pts ahead of silver medallist Lee who with his four tops was the only climber in the competition to top every single boulder he faced in China.

With 0.1pts deducted for a failed attempt from a possible 25pts for a flash, those attempts make a difference in Boulder climbing, and Anraku made less in the final as Lee scored 99.3pts.

After his win Anraku said: “I had a good time at this comp. I really enjoyed the problems. I liked M4 because I haven’t won recently because I’m not always sending the last boulder, this time I could though, so I am happy.”

As one of the earlier climbers out, Japan’s Narasaki Meichi made sure Anraku and Lee had to work on the final boulder for their medals. He set a score of 83.9pts, which despite Anraku and Lee topping, ensured a bronze medal for the Japanese climber.

Meichi finished on the podium ahead of brother Tomoa who scored 69.9pts with two tops to Meichi’s three.

Mejdi Schalck led a French trio, and arguably had the biggest cheer of the night as he reversed his way to a top on the final boulder. In a way only Schalck could have done, he faced out toward the crowd as he backed his way up to the top to finish in fifth with 69.5pts.

On the same score was teammate Sam Avezou in sixth position ahead of Paul Jenft in seventh on 44.6pts.

Last but by no means least was Israel’s Oren Prihed, who despite finishing in eighth with 29.7pts needs to be applauded for making it all the way to the final on his very first appearance at a World Cup. More to come from Prihed we are sure.

Full results can be found here

News and updates about all IFSC events will be available on the IFSC website, and on the Federation’s digital channels: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube, and exclusively for the Chinese audience, Douyin, Weibo, and Xiaohongshu.