Tough Men’s Final at Boulder World Cup in Brazil

Paris Olympic silver medalist Sorato Anraku earned his second gold medal of the 2025 Boulder World Cup season yesterday in Curitiba, Brazil. The men’s Boulder World Cup final was defined by a four very tough problems, with only two of the eight competitors achieving a top. Anraku topped two of the problems and reached zone on the two others, earning 69.7 points and achieving gold. Mejdi Schalck won silver with one two tops and one zone, collecting 58.9 points. Tomoa Narasaki reached zone on all four problems, his 39.0 points winning him the bronze medal.

Anraku made a statement on the first boulder of the evening, standing with confidence on a slippery no-tex hold like it was a piece of sharp granite. He topped the problem after three attempts. Schalck also topped the problem, albeit in four attempts. Anraku failed to top the second problem, a series of tricky laybacks preventing his clutch of the final hold. No other competitor topped the problem.

Problem #3 was a strange one, requiring a dyno around an arete to reach the final hold. Anraku climbed it with apparent ease and topped it on his second attempt, securing his gold medal victory based on points. He reached zone of the fourth problem of the evening, the coordination bloc. Schalck was the only competitor to top the final problem.

“I’m very happy for my second World Cup gold in a row, but I wanted to send boulder number four,” said Anraku after the final. “I rested a lot on my attempts because I had no power left, but I felt confident. I’m not thinking about winning the Series. I will focus on one event at a time, so now it’s time to focus on Salt Lake City.”

Favoured by many to win the Paris Olympics last summer, Anraku ended up winning silver. In 2023, he took the Boulder World Cup by storm in his rookie season, placing first overall after the season’s six events. He took the overall boulder title again last year.

Anraku’s 2024 Boulder World Cup season started out strong. He won silver in Keqiao in April. A month later, he won gold in Salt Lake City. At the end of June, he earned bronze in Innsbruck. His Boulder World Cup performances weren’t as strong post-Olympics, placing 4th in Prague and 14th in Seoul. He earned one bronze, one silver, and one gold in the 2024 Lead World Cup.

He’s perfect so far in this year’s Boulder World Cup, winning golds in both Keqiao and Curitiba. The 18-year-old also won gold at the Lead World Cup in Wujiang.

Schalck’s Curitiba silver mark’s his seventh World Cup medal. Surprisingly, the Curitiba event was his first time podiuming in a World Cup since the Prague boulder competition in June 2023. That same year he earned bronze at the Boulder World Championships in Bern. In Curitiba, Narasaki earned his 26th World Cup medal.