Lee Do-hyun of South Korea works on a problem during the men's bouldering final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games at Nagoya Port Messe Hall 1 on Wednesday. [Yonhap]
Lee Do-hyun of South Korea works on a problem during the men's bouldering final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games at Nagoya Port Messe Hall 1 on Wednesday. [Yonhap]

Sport climbing standout Lee Do-hyun claimed a silver medal Wednesday, rallying from a zero score on the opening problem to finish second in the men's bouldering final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

Lee, 24, posted 49.7 points at Nagoya Port Messe Hall 1 to take second place. Japan's Anraku Sorato won gold with 74.5 points.

Bouldering requires competitors to scale four different routes, each 4 to 5 meters high, within four minutes. A clean top earns up to 25 points, with 0.1 points deducted for each fall. The maximum total score is 100 points.

Competing last among the eight finalists, Lee failed to reach even the scoring zone on the first problem and received zero points. On the second, he fell once before topping the route for 24.9 points, then fell twice on the third before completing it for 24.8 points. All eight competitors scored zero on the fourth problem.

The silver adds to Lee's medal haul from the 2022 Hangzhou Games, where he took silver in the combined event, giving him silver medals at two consecutive Asian Games.

Cheon Jong-won, 30, who won the inaugural men's sport climbing gold at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games, finished fifth with 30 points.

Having narrowly missed the top of the podium in bouldering, Lee will next compete in the lead event, where he will chase his first gold medal of these Games.


dbsdn1110@heraldcorp.com