Seo Chae-hyun Wins Bronze in Bouldering, Reaches Asian Games Podium for Second Straight Edition [Nagoya Asian Games]

[Financial News]  South Korean sport-climbing star Seo Chae-hyun (Seoul Metropolitan Government/The North Face) won a bronze medal in bouldering, not her main event, earning a medal at the Asian Games for the second consecutive edition.
Seo Chae-hyun scored 70 points to finish third in the women's bouldering final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, held at the Nagoya International Exhibition Hall in Nagoya, Japan, on the 1st. In the semifinals, she flashed all four problems by topping them on her first attempts, taking first place with a perfect 100 points. However, she fell to third in the final.
Seo Chae-hyun made a strong start. She topped Problems 1 and 2 on her first attempts to secure 50 points. On Problem 3, unlike Zhang Yitong of China and Ai Mori of Japan, who topped it, she could not reach the final hold. She climbed as far as the zone hold, which awards partial credit, and added 10 points.
On the final Problem 4, she again managed only to reach the zone hold. Seo Chae-hyun finished with 70 points and placed third behind Zhang Yitong, who scored 85, and Ai Mori, who scored 84.8. She tied Luo Zilu of China on the final score, but won the bronze medal under the rule that compares results from previous rounds. Seo Chae-hyun had finished ahead of Luo Zilu in the semifinals.
With this bronze medal, Seo Chae-hyun has reached the podium at two consecutive Asian Games. At the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, she won silver in the combined event, which combines bouldering and lead results. The final was canceled because of heavy rain, so the final standings were determined by the preliminary and semifinal results.
Beginning with these Games, bouldering and lead have been separated into individual events. Seo Chae-hyun, who has competed among the world's best in lead, also won a medal in bouldering. She solved every problem on her first attempt in the semifinals and stayed in medal contention in the final by topping the first two problems consecutively.
Seo Chae-hyun will now seek the first Asian Games gold medal of her career in her main event, lead. She has consistently posted top-level results in international lead competitions this year, finishing third in Wujiang, second in Prague, and third in Innsbruck, Chamonix and Koper. The women's lead semifinals will be held on the 2nd, followed by the final on the 3rd.
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