British Climber Defeats IFSC World Cup Champion Sorato Anraku

The International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) Boulder World Cup in Innsbruck, Austria, kicked off with qualifications. It looked as though returning champion Sorato Anraku, 18, of Japan, was going to sweep the gold medal yet again. He started strong with a qualification score of 95.0, comfortably placing him at the top of the leaderboard.

When the semifinals rolled around, he continued to dominate and landed the highest score of 84.8, with Lee Dohyun following closely behind with 84.5 points. All signs pointed toward the duo reaching the podium together, but things took an unexpected turn in the Boulder finals.

Toby Roberts Takes Gold, Sorato Anraku Stumbles at IFSC World Cup

Creeping up steadily behind the leading climbers was British climber Toby Roberts, who endured a difficult season until now. After continuously missing the podium, Roberts made a colossal appearance and brought home a gold medal with a total of 69.8 points, allowing him to knock Anraku down to second place for a silver medal. The competition was dramatic and incredibly tight — Anraku landed 69.6 points. Earning the bronze medal was Hannes Van Duysen of Belgium with 54.6 points.

"This means a lot to me, and I'm still trying to piece it all together. What an incredible crowd and atmosphere. I posted a few weeks ago about pressure and expectation and not feeling like myself — I was 51st in Bern 10 days ago and didn't feel like myself at all when climbing."