Seo Chaehyun Advances to Climbing Finals for Second Consecutive Time... Dramatic Comeback in Lead Event [Paris Olympics]

Sports climbing national representative Seo Chaehyun (20, Seoul City Hall, The North Face) advanced to the Olympic finals for the second consecutive time.

On the 8th (local time), Seo Chaehyun scored 72.1 points out of 100 in the lead event of the women's combined (bouldering + lead) semifinals at the 2024 Paris Olympic sports climbing competition held at Le Bourget Climbing Venue in Paris, France.

Seo Chaehyun, who ranked 13th out of 20 with 44.2 points in the bouldering semifinals held on the 6th, added her lead score to achieve a total of 123.7 points, placing 8th. In the finals, the semifinal scores are reset, and both bouldering and lead events are completed in one day with scores combined.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The sports climbing combined semifinals sum the scores of bouldering and lead, each out of 100 points, and the top 8 advance to the finals.

Seo Chaehyun significantly improved her ranking in her main event, lead, successfully making a comeback. She will challenge for Korea's first climbing medal in the finals held at 5:15 PM KST on the 10th.

Seo Chaehyun advanced to the finals in this event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics held in 2021 but finished 8th. At that time, the combined event included bouldering, lead, and speed, and Seo Chaehyun, who was not familiar with speed, failed to win a medal. In the Paris Olympics, speed has been separated into a distinct medal event, increasing her chances of winning a medal.

Seo Chaehyun, the silver medalist in the women's combined at the Hangzhou Asian Games, is ranked 18th in bouldering, 3rd in lead, and 4th overall in the combined ranking worldwide.

Bouldering is an event where athletes must pass artificial structures (holds) installed on a 4.5-meter-high rock wall within a set time, and the lead event held that day is a competition to climb as high as possible within 6 minutes by holding onto holds installed on a 15-meter-high rock wall.

[Image source=Yonhap News]