Korean climber Seo Chae-hyun finishes 6th in boulder and lead

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Korean climber Seo Chae-hyun finishes 6th in boulder and lead

Published: 10 Aug. 2024, 20:32

Korea's Seo Chae-hyun competes in the women's boulder and lead, lead, final at the Paris Olympics on Saturday in Le Bourget, France. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Korean sport climber Seo Chae-hyun finished the women’s boulder and lead finals at the Paris Olympics in 6th place Saturday, ending her second Games as a finalist but without a medal.

Seo, 20, came last in the final boulder round, earning 28.9 points over four routes to sit in eighth place heading into the lead, which would seal in the standings.

Korea's Seo Chae-hyun competes in the women's boulder and lead, boulder, final at the Paris Olympics on Saturday in Le Bourget, France. [AP/YONHAP]

She had a strong climb in the lead, scoring 76.1 points, but the seven others who had yet scale the wall after her would have needed to struggle for Seo to remain in the top three and leave Paris an Olympic medalist.

Seo was up first in the lead round after narrowly clinching the last spot in the combined final. She finished the boulder qualifiers in 13th place earlier in the week but grabbed fourth place in lead, her stronger event, on Friday for the last spot in the eight-woman final.

Korea's Seo Chae-hyun competes in the women's boulder and lead, lead, final at the Paris Olympics on Saturday in Le Bourget, France. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Still, she failed to hold on to a spot in the top three as the lead round at the climbing venue in Paris continued. Japan’s Ai Mori dethroned Seo as the highest-scoring climber in lead, reaching the top of the wall but failing to match on the final hold for 96.1 points to grab the gold medal spot. Mori was later knocked out of the top three by Slovenia's Janja Garnbret, whose 84.1 lead points were added to her first-place 84.4-point finish in boulder for a total score of 168.5 and the gold medal.

And then Brooke Raboutou of the United States, who placed second in the boulder final with 84.0 points, grabbed another 72.0 points in the lead to unseat Mori at the top of the podium and knock Seo to fourth.

Seo, who competed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as a 17-year-old, found the spotlight ahead of this year’s Games, which would run speed climbing as a separate discipline from combined boulder and lead, more technical styles. She ended the finals, with speed, boulder and lead, in eighth place in Tokyo in 2021.

Seo, who ultimately placed fourth in lead, was still the highest-placed Korean climber at the Paris Olympics. Lee Do-hyun failed to make the men’s boulder and lead finals, and Shin Eun-cheol was knocked out of the men’s speed elimination round.

BY MARY YANG [mary.yang@joongang.co.kr]