Team Japan won the Lead competition at home in Fukuoka adding to their win in Boulder at the season ending World Climbing Nations Grand Finale.
With a Boulder win already in the bag, Team Japan made the most of home advantage to claim the Lead prize ahead of South Korea and USA.
After qualification in the morning which had eliminated Team Australia, Japan’s team of Ryu Nakagawa, Hana Koike, Zento Murashita and Neo Suzuki had to up their game for the final round after finishing second behind the South Korean team. And that is exactly what they did.
Known more for his Boulder skills, Jongwon Chon feel relatively early slightly mis-reading the route that allowed Murashita to edge an advantage for the team.
Nakagawa was next to extend the lead up against Chaeyeong Kim, and the result was the same. Japan moved further ahead.
The next match up was a heavyweight one. World champion Dohyun Lee against 2026 Lead series winner Suzuki. Lee climbed well but fell short of the top, which Suzuki made.
After Koike finished her climb, her team’s total was at the point that no matter what Chaehyun Seo did, the Japanese team were out of sight in first for the gold.
With a total points tally of 157.5pts, Team Japan showed their dominance as deserving winners by winning all of their matchups with high points on the wall. South Korea finished in second with 125pts.
Team USA had started well with Vail Everett Murashita’s closest competitor, but the strength of the Asian teams saw them pull away. And it was Everett who perhaps won the bronze medal for his team as Francesca Hain, Nathan Sato and Zoe Yi were similarly matched with their Swiss counterparts.
Like Chon, Julian Clémence and Sofya Yokoyama are known more for Boulder, and with Moreno Ghilardi and Francesca Walther they fell behind USA. The Americans finished on 105pts for third and Switzerland finished with 96.5pts for fourth.
Japanese joy in Fukuoka Boulder finale
After coming through qualification in top spot from the morning session, Team Japan carried on the momentum to take the Boulder title on the first day of the World Climbing Nations Grand Finale 2026.
With a strong team of Mao Nakamura, Melody Sekikawa, Sorato Anraku and Rei Kawamata, the Japanese were quick out of the blocks in the final with three tops and one zone from the four climbers on Boulder one.
Anraku and Kawamata kept pace with the Korean pair of Jongwon Chon and Dohyun Lee on their boulder with tops, while Nakamura and Sekikawa moved them clear, especially with Sekikawa’s top. South Korea’s Heeju Noh and Chaehyun Seo could only zone the boulder.
With a lead established, it was all tops from then on with both men and women topping their second boulders, before Kawamata and Sekikawa took on the mixed boulder – the only boulder of the three where the men and women both competed on the same problem. The result was the same though for Japan, two tops.
With Japan on a 233.9pts total, South Korea maintained the lead they had built over Team USA from the first boulder to take second place, and it was sealed when both Lee and Seo topped the mixed boulder giving them a total of 188.8pts.
Sisters Nekaia and Sovarae Sanders got Team USA rolling with Nekaia especially in fine form topping both the women’s boulders and making a zone in the mixed. They kept the score ticking over as Hugo Hoyer and Vail Everett failed to score on the first men’s Boulder before fighting back with both of them topping the second men’s and Hoyer topping the mixed.
Team USA finished in third with a score of 154pts ahead of Team Switzerland which was made up of Sofya Yokoyama, Francesca Walther, Julian Clémence and Moreno Ghilardi. Clémence topped the mixed boulder with Yokoyama adding a zone to take their tally up to 114.2pts.
The four teams made the final at the expense of Team Australia who got knocked out in the qualification round.
