Colin Duffy (Photo World Climbing)
Anraku Sorato and Colin Duffy led their groups, while Lee Dohyun remained the only athlete still in contention for the season title at the World Climbing Series Innsbruck.
Semi-final places were decided in the men’s Boulder event with Series leader Anraku Sorato of Japan once again among the standout performers.
The qualification round also reshaped the battle for the men’s Boulder Series title race, leaving only one climber still mathematically capable of challenging title holder Anraku.
Anraku and Colin Duffy of the USA set the pace in qualification, each topping their respective groups.
The Japanese 19-year-old continued his remarkable run of form after winning the four opening Boulder competitions of the season in Keqiao, China; Bern, Switzerland; Alcobendas, Spain; and Prague, Czechia. He scored 109.9 points, recording four tops including three flashes, and moved one step closer to securing the men’s Boulder Series 2026 title with one event to spare.
Duffy led the second qualification group after scoring 99.3 points. The American, who won gold in Innsbruck in 2022, has been among the most consistent climbers of the season, making the final in Bern, taking silver in Alcobendas, and narrowly missing the final in Prague by a single spot.
The only climber still mathematically in contention for the Boulder Series title alongside Anraku is Lee Dohyun of South Korea, who safely advanced to the semi-final in ninth place overall with 94.4 points.
The qualification round, however, saw an early exit for France’s Mejdi Schalck. Second in the Series standings coming into Innsbruck, Schalck missed the semi-final cut in 29th place overall with 69.6 points. It was only the third time in 25 Boulder appearances at World Cup or World Climbing Series level that the French climber failed to advance from qualification.
Team Japan once again demonstrated its depth by placing six climbers in the semi-final, including Anraku and Amagasa Sohta, who finished third overall with 99.2 points. Amagasa returns to a venue where he claimed his first World Cup gold medal in 2024.
Amagasa said: “My round was not perfect, but still pretty good. This is my favorite place, my favorite venue… good boulders, good atmosphere. I like it.
“I can’t wait for semi-final, I don’t know what kind of boulders I will find, but I want to enjoy and go to the final and get the podium.If I could pick the boulder, I would say some good coordination, and since I trained a lot in slab, I’d like to top a slab boulder.”
RAUTER DELIGHTS HOME CROWD WITH FIRST SERIES SEMI-FINAL
Annie Sanders of the USA and Agathe Calliet of France topped their respective qualification groups to advance to the women’s Boulder semi-final at the World Climbing Series Innsbruck 2026.
Competing in group B, Sanders was the standout performer of the round, becoming the only athlete across both groups to top all five boulders. The American finished with 124.5 points.
Calliet led group A with 94.9 points. She scored three tops – all secured on her first attempt – and two additional zones, entering her fourth semi-final our of five competitions this year.
Home fans had plenty to celebrate as 17-year-old Jakoba Rauter of Austria advanced to her first World Climbing Series semi-final. Starting in only her second competition at this level after placing 43rd in Prague earlier this season, Rauter qualified in 13th place with 79.6 points.
“It was amazing. I knew that I could be in semi-final, that I could climb well,” she said. “I just came back from the Europe Youth Championship, which I won, and I was very confident. But still, I felt in my body that I had so many competitions, and I was like ‘It’s my, favorite competiton because it’s my home one.’ I was really close to all the boulders actually. And it was enough, I’m so happy to climb in my first semi-final.”
“I had so much pressure because I won the first two Europe Youth Series events, then I was very close two years ago at the European Championships, and I was like ‘I know I can win, but I have to be really precise’. And I did, I was just free in my head, I’m so happy and proud about that,” she added.
“For me, the qualification round was so stressful, because I wanted to do so well. My parents, everyone is here and now I’m in semi-final, I feel like a little girl who is just so happy to climb. Maybe tonight I won’t sleep anything, so we’ll see!”
Sharing 13th place with Rauter was Luo Zhilu of China, who scored 94.8 points to advance. The two-time World Cup medallist is searching for her best result of the season after placing 22nd in Prague.
“The round was not too hard, but not too easy either,” said Luo. “The first boulder in my group, I really didn’t know how to climb. The second one was kind of hard to solve because of my shoulder injury, and in the last three problems, I think I did my best.”
Luo revealed she has been managing a long-term shoulder injury throughout the season.
“I have broken something in my right shoulder, and it’s never going to repair if I don’t get surgery,” she explained. “So I do a lot of rehabilitation to keep it stable, but I’m kind of worried for the semi-final. I’m constantly thinking about it.”
