PARIS, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- British climber Toby Roberts, 19, delivered a stunning come-from-behind performance to win the men's boulder & lead climbing gold at the Paris Olympics here on Friday.
Despite trailing after the boulder round, Roberts made outstanding display in the lead climbing final, overtaking Japan's favorite, Sorato Anraku, for the top spot on the podium.
The men's boulder & lead event at the Olympics features both bouldering and lead climbing, with each discipline scored out of 100 points. The final rankings are determined by the athletes' total score across both events.
Anraku, 17, had entered the Olympics as the youngest IFSC World Cup overall champion. He topped the leader board in the semifinals and was the last climber to compete in Friday's final.
The Japanese climber took the lead in the boulder round, completing two of the four problems to score 69.3 points, while Roberts trailed in third place.
However, the tables turned in the lead climbing round. Roberts secured 92.1 points, while Anraku fell unexpectedly early, allowing the British climber to claim the gold medal.
Roberts said he knew he had already secured a silver after Anraku started, "so I was really happy anyway just watching him climb, then [when Anraku fell] to realise that I had just become Olympic champion, I was just: wow, no words," said Roberts, overwhelmed with emotion.
"I really enjoyed today's routes. There was not a specifically hard part, which is my kind of route, where I can really put in a good fight," he added.
Anraku expressed disappointment with his performance. "I'm really sad right now, and I regret not topping two more boulders," said the silver medalist, adding that he struggled to find footholds in the middle part of the lead route, which made his movements chaotic.
Austria's Jakob Schubert, a veteran and world champion, took bronze - his second consecutive Olympic bronze after Tokyo 2020. Schubert and Czech climber Adam Ondra, both renowned for their natural rock climbing prowess, nearly topped the lead route, scoring 96.0 points to share first place in the lead discipline.
"I am extremely proud that climbing is at the Olympic Games for the second time and that I have my second medal. That's something very special," Schubert said. "The boulder round took a lot out of me, and I couldn't push further. The lead route was surprisingly easy, and I was surprised they set the route like that," he added.
Ondra, who finished sixth in the final, shared similar sentiments. "You don't want to complain about what the route setters prepared," said the lead-specialized climber. "The final [lead] route was so basic. It was really difficult to make any kind of mistake, which we were kind of disappointed about," he added.
