Unrivalled boulder world champ Anraku eyes another title at Asian Games

NAGOYA – Japanese men’s boulder world champion Sorato Anraku is carrying the indisputable favourite tag heading into the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

After claiming his maiden world title in 2025, the 19-year-old has won a stunning five straight World Climbing Series events in 2026 to secure the season’s title, even before the 13-event competition has reached its midway point.

“With the Olympics in mind, I want to get the experience of winning the tournament that I’ve set out to win,” said the teenager, who has now won the annual boulder title for the fourth straight time.

Anraku won on his Asian Games debut in 2023 when boulder and lead were competed in a combined format. He won silver in the same discipline at the Paris Olympics in 2024, becoming the first Japanese sport climber to stand on the Summer Games’ podium.

Boulder and lead will be competed separately at the 2028 Los Angeles Games and Anraku, focusing on boulder at the Asian Games, is relishing the relaxed schedule, calling it “a tailwind”.

“Whatever problems I get, I want to be the strongest climber,” said Anraku, who has been working on shallow-angled slab walls this season that require body balance, something he was not best at before.

“I don’t have a weak area (anymore)... I also got better at giving everything in each round.”

Downplaying his World Series wins as “all very close”, Anraku is keeping himself grounded as he eyes another win, this time on home soil.

“There’s a possibility of losing, and that’s precisely why I’ll be giving everything I have,” he said.