The first medal awarded at the IFSC World Cup Salt Lake City 2024 was placed around the neck of Japanese rising star Anraku Sorato, who dominated the men’s 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.

“I’m very happy to have won gold in this beautiful place,” said Anraku. “I feel good about my climbing today, even though it was a very nerve-wracking competition.

“When I figured the moves out on the final boulder, I knew I had it, and it felt very good to top it.”

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.

For the men’s Boulder complete results click here.

The IFSC World Cup in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, will conclude tomorrow with the women’s Boulder semi-final and final, respectively starting at 10:00 (UTC-6:00) and 18:00.

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