Sport climbing medal hopeful Seo Chae-hyun finished sixth in the women’s combined event at the Paris Olympics on Saturday, unable to rally for a podium finish after falling behind the pack early in the competition.
Seo scored 105.0 points from the bouldering and lead events at Le Bourget Sport Climbing Venue in Le Bourget, north of Paris. She ranked fourth among eight finalists in lead with 76.1 points in the afternoon, after finishing last in the morning’s bouldering session with 28.9 points.
Seo had squeezed into the final as the eighth and final qualifier from the semifinals Thursday. She finished 0.8 point ahead of Miho Nonaka of Japan.
As had been the case in the semifinals, Seo struggled in bouldering in the final and couldn’t quite make up ground in lead.
Seo made her Olympic debut at the 2021 Tokyo Games, where sport climbing also made its first appearance. The combined event featured the bouldering, lead and speed disciplines, and Seo, who had difficulty in speed, finished eighth.
For Paris, th
e speed discipline was contested as a separate event. Seo, world No. 3 in lead and No. 18 in bouldering, was regarded as a medal contender but ended up 42.4 points back of the bronze medal winner, Jessica Pilz of Austria.
Janja Garnbret of Slovenia won her second straight gold medal with 168.5 points. Brooke Raboutou of the United States took silver with 156.0 points.
In bouldering, the objective is to scale four routes with the fewest attempts within a five-minute limit per route. It’s a problem-solving competition.
Climbers can score a maximum 100 points, 25 points for each boulder topped. They score five points for reaching the first checkpoint and 10 points for getting to the second checkpoint. They lose 0.1 point for failing to reach a checkpoint or topping a boulder, but only if they later reach that checkpoint or top that boulder.
Seo had 9.5 points on the first boulder, 4.8 points each on the second and third boulders, and 9.8 points on the fourth boulder. Seo was the only finalist not to have sca
led at least one route.
In the lead event, climbers get one attempt to ascend as high as they can on a route set on a 15-meter wall within six minutes. They score the maximum 100 points if they reach the top hold.
Climbers receive one point for reaching any hold out of the 10 lowest, two points for any of the next highest, three points for the any of the next highest and four points for any hold of the 10 highest. If climbers move toward the next hold but don’t reach it, they get 0.1 point.
Seo was the first climber to compete in the lead event and put up a solid score on the board. But the gap from the bouldering event proved too much for Seo to overcome.
Source: Yonhap News Agency