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Lee Do-hyun soars to men's lead title at climbing worlds in Seoul

Published: 27 Sep. 2025, 10:50

Lee Do-hyun of South Korea competes in the men's lead final at the International Federation of Sport Climbing World Cup in Madrid on July 19, in this file photo provided by the Korea Alpine Federation. [YONHAP]

Lee Do-hyun captured his first career world title in the men's lead event at the sport climbing world championships in Seoul on Friday.

Lee scored 43+ points in the men's lead final of the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) Climbing World Championships at KSPO Dome inside Olympic Park in southeastern Seoul. He is the first South Korean male climber to win a world title in any discipline.

Satone Yoshida of Japan also finished with 43+ points, but Lee got the upper hand after outscoring Yoshida in the semifinals, 48+ to 46+.

Taisei Homma of Japan got the bronze medal with 42+ points. Jakob Schubert of Austria, a four-time world champion, finished seventh with 34 points.

Lee is fourth in the world lead rankings and won a World Cup title in that discipline in Madrid two months ago. He is also No. 2 in the boulder rankings and the 2023 world boulder bronze medalist.

"Definitely, the feeling is amazing. My dream came true," Lee said. "I'm so happy to compete here because this is my hometown and my parents and friends came. It means a lot."

Asked if he thought he could also win a medal in bouldering on Sunday, Lee said, "I have confidence in bouldering and I will do my best."

In lead, the objective for climbers is to ascend as high as possible on a route set on a 15-meter wall within 6 minutes.

Climbers each earn 25 points for reaching and controlling the final top hold of a boulder problem and 10 points for reaching a designated zone hold and making a movement to stabilize or advance the climb. The "+" sign is added to their score if they move toward the next hold but fail to secure it. Climbers also lose 0.1 point for each unsuccessful attempt.

Earlier Friday, Korea's Seo Chae-hyun captured bronze in the women's lead event for her third career medal at the competition.

Seo scored 44+ points in the women's lead final of the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) Climbing World Championships at KSPO Dome inside Olympic Park in southeastern Seoul. Janja Garnbret of Slovenia won her third world title with a score of "top" for completing her climb, followed by her fellow Slovenian, Rosa Rekar, with 45 points.

Seo, 21, earlier won gold at the 2021 worlds and picked up bronze two years later.

Yonhap