He failed to make it to the final at the Paris Olympics. Sports Climbing Lee Do-hyun Wins World Cup Gold Medal in Prague

Sep 22, 2024

Lee Do-hyun (center) raises his arms from the top of the podium after winning the title at the"2024 IFSC Sports Climbing World Cup (Boulder)" held in Prague, Czech Republic early on the 22nd (Korea time). Courtesy of the Korea Mountain Federation

Korean sports climbing star Lee Do-hyun (Seoul City Hall, Black Yak), who unfortunately failed to win a medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, won the World Cup gold medal.

At 1:30 a.m. on the 22nd (Korea time), Lee Do-hyun swept away the regret of his failure to win an Olympic medal by ranking first in the '2024 International Sports Climbing Federation (IFSC) Prague Sports Climbing World Cup' (Boulder) held in Prague, Czech Republic. In particular, Lee Do-hyun won the gold medal in the final of this competition, beating both Toby Roberts (Britain), the gold medalist at the Paris Olympics, and Anraku Sorato of Japan, who won the silver medal.

Courtesy of the Korea Mountain Federation

In the Prague World Cup, the first Boulder World Cup competition since the Paris Olympics, Lee reached the final in third place in the semifinals. Boulder solves the four problems installed on the 4.5-meter-high rock wall as much as possible within a given time and adds up the scores obtained from them to divide the rankings. It goes without a rope.

In the final, Lee recorded 2T4Z (meaning he finished 2 out of 4 tasks and took 4 shots of the intermediate hold-in zone) to win the title, beating the gold and silver medalists Roberts and Sorato of the Paris Olympics, respectively.

Courtesy of the Korea Mountain Federation

Lee was one of the leading contenders for the Korean team's medal at the Paris Olympics. A U.S. sports analyst even predicted Lee Do-hyun as a gold medal candidate. In fact, Lee Do-hyun passed the Olympic Qualifier Series (OQS) in Paris as the first overall winner, giving the green light to win a medal. However, it did not meet expectations in the semifinals, finishing 15th out of 20 players, failing to reach the final round where the top eight players advanced.

However, he won the gold medal at the Boulder World Cup, which took place about a month and a half after the Olympics, showing off that he is still the best in the world in Boulder events.

Meanwhile, Seo Chae-hyun (All That Sports) will play in the semifinals at 7 p.m. on the 22nd. If they reach the final, they will try to win a medal at 1:30 a.m. on the 23rd.

wman@sportschosun.com