Japan’s Sorato Anraku Used His Unique Climbing Style to Claim Silver Medal in Boulder and Lead Event at Paris

By Yuta Hirukawa / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

18:16 JST, August 10, 2024

Sorato Anraku, who claimed the silver medal in the men’s boulder and lead sport climbing event at the Paris Games, is a climber with a natural style.

He has developed his own unique style of climbing, moving lightly up the wall with a minimal amount of force. The third-year high school student became the first male climber to win the medal.

Anraku’s first encounter with sport climbing was by chance. When his father, Takeshi, joined a climbing gym near his home in Chiba Prefecture to lose weight, he took his son, then a second-grade elementary school student, with him because he was embarrassed to go to the gym by himself.

The boy, who had always been scolded for climbing trees because it was too dangerous, was fascinated by sport climbing. Anraku went to the gym nearly daily during his summer breaks. As he had no arm strength, he racked his brains on how to climb. By falling many times, he learned through trial and error how to climb without using unnecessary effort by thinking about the positions of his hands and feet on the holds and the way to use his body.

It was Anraku’s favorite subject, math, that helped him figure out which route to take to climb a wall. “It’s just like math, where you have to think about how to solve and figure out the answer,” he said.

At 168 centimeters tall and weighing about 55 kilograms, Anraku competed against the world’s fiercest athletes. He is confident in the unique climbing style he has honed and refined, saying, “I can compete even without visible muscles.”

“I want to be an athlete who can inspire and give hope to others with my climbing,” he said.

Anraku topped the boulder part of the final round, but was overtaken on his favorite part, lead, at the Paris Games. “I’m disappointed with second place, but I’m happy to have made it to the top three, which was my minimum target,” he said.