There was youth and experience on show for the men’s Boulder & Lead podium at Paris 2024 as Great Britain’s Toby Roberts won gold, Japan’s Anraku Sorato silver and Austria’s Jakob Schubert bronze.
 
Teenagers Roberts (19) and Anraku (17) have grown up in climbing together through training and competition, and once again they were in pole positions for an Olympic medal after the Boulder round of the final.
 
Anraku was ahead with 69.3pts, and as he had the better semi-final round it also meant that he would climb last, and Roberts had to watch with his score of 63.1pts from Boulder and his 92.1pts climb in Lead for a total of 155.2pts.
 
As Anraku climbed the wall Roberts just had to sit and wait until Anraku fell at point 76.1 – which meant Roberts had won the gold. He threw his head in his hands with Anraku’s total of 145.4pts only enough for the silver.
 
On his gold Roberts said: "I've got no words. I'm just riding on adrenaline right now, but I feel incredible."
 
On watching silver medallist Anraku climbing up towards first place, he said: "At that point I already knew I had won the silver medal, so I was really happy anyway just watching him. Then to realise that I had just become Olympic champion, I was just: wow, no words."
 
On his silver Anraku said: "I'm sad, and I regret that I could not make the best of Boulder & Lead.
 
"At the third and fourth Boulder I could not reach the top. In the Lead my feet weren't stable enough, which started in the middle of the route. But I'm still proud of myself."
 
33-year-old Schubert already had one Olympic medal before the climbing started with his bronze from Tokyo 2020 – now he is the first two-time Olympic medallist with his bronze winning perfomance in Paris 2024.
 
Schubert was fifth after the Boulder round, but knew that Lead is his specialty, and proved that with the joint-best climb of the round with 96pts. That took his total to 139.6pts.
 
After his medal Schubert said: "I feel good. I still haven't had much time to process the whole thing.
 
"I am extremely proud that climbing is at the Olympic Games for the second time and that I have my second medal. That's something very special.
 
"And at the same time, I have the feeling that the Boulder round frustrated me extremely and there was a lot more possible for me today.
 
"The big goal was gold or silver, and I'm a little bit hesitant about that, but I just can't complain because I know how difficult it is to win an Olympic medal."
 
In second position after the Boulder round was USA’s Colin Duffy who scored 68.3pts, including a top on Boulder four as the only climber to do so. Unfortunately, a 68.1pt Lead climb and a total of 136.4pts was just edged by Schubert for a podium spot.
 
Great Britain’s Hamish McArthur finished in fifth for the only country to have two representatives in the final. Czechia’s Adam Ondra scored the same as Schubert in the Lead round for the top score, but a low scoring Boulder round of 24.1pts meant he finished in sixth.
 
Tokyo 2020 gold medallist Alberto Gines Lopez finished in seventh overall ahead of crowd favourite Paul Jenft from the home nation France. 

Full results can be found on the IFSC website homepage: https://www.ifsc-climbing.org