The Japanese Sorato Anraku was within reach of the Olympic title in Paris, but narrowly missed out. The British Toby Roberts won the sport climbing on Friday and took the gold medal.

The 17-year-old Olympic debutant Anraku took silver with a total of 145.4 points, behind the 19-year-old Roberts with 155.2 points. Third place went to the Austrian Jakob Schubert with 139.6.

Japan’s Sorato Anraku competes in the lead round of the men’s bouldering and lead climbing final at the Paris Olympics at the Le Bourget climbing stadium near Paris on Aug. 9, 2024. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

“A place on the podium was my minimum goal,” said Anraku. “After bouldering, we were almost tied and whoever took the lead would win.”

Anraku had led the bouldering phase at Le Bourget earlier in the day, with a score of 69.3, ahead of American Colin Duffy with 68.3 and Roberts with 63.1.

But Anraku fell just two holds away from gold in the lead event, settling for 76.1 after Roberts scored 92.1. Consistency proved key for Roberts, who finished third in both the bouldering and lead events to win gold at his first Olympic Games.

Japan’s Sorato Anraku poses after winning silver in the men’s bouldering and lead sport climbing competition at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games at the Le Bourget Sport Climbing Venue in Le Bourget, near Paris, on Aug. 9, 2024. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

For Japan, it is the third medal in sport climbing at the Olympic Games, after Miho Nonaka won silver in the women’s combined event at the Tokyo Games, ahead of Akiyo Noguchi with bronze.

Ai Mori will try to win Japan’s first gold medal in the sport in the women’s bouldering and lead finals scheduled for Saturday.

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Olympics: Narasaki fails in men’s climbing, Anraku in the lead after semifinals