Japan's Sorato Anraku topped the preliminary stage of men's boulder and lead sport climbing on Wednesday at the Paris Olympics as his countryman and former world champion Tomoa Narasaki failed to reach the eight-man final.
Starting the day in first place at Le Bourget Climbing Venue after the boulder stage, the 17-year-old Anraku added 68.0 points for a 137.0 total in the semifinals, 14.8 clear of second-placed Briton Toby Roberts.
"I have the confidence but I don't want to be too confident because I can be first in the semifinal, and then I could not be first in the final," Anraku, whose lead performance was fourth-best on the day, said.
Narasaki, 28, was sitting in second behind Anraku after the boulder phase, but plummeted to 10th when he could only score 12.1 for the 14th-best climb of the day in lead.
"I can only say that it's disappointing," a stunned Narasaki, who finished fourth in the combined event at the Tokyo Games, reflected.
Later on Wednesday, world record holder Aleksandra Miroslaw of Poland won gold in the women's speed event with a 6.10-second climb, beating Deng Lijuan of China in the big final. Aleksandra Kalucka of Poland took bronze.
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Olympics: Anraku, Narasaki sport climbing top-2 after boulder semis
