The U16 men and women finished lead climbing at the IFSC Youth World Championships Guiyang 2024 as Japan and South Korea took the gold medals.

Japan’s Hayashi Arisa was able to improve her country’s points tally in the U18 and U20 categories the evening before, while South Korean Jung Chanjin won the first gold medal for his country in this competition.

Hayashi was the last to climb in the women’s category and knew she would need only a top finish. She climbed the wall confidently and her concentration turned to elation as she turned to the crowd, knowing she was the new Youth World Champion.

Hayashi said: “I’m very, very happy. I like lead and I trained a lot for this event. I knew I had to be at the top to win and I was a little nervous, but I wanted to win and get a medal, so I just had to do my best.”

The home crowd in China narrowly missed out on the gold celebration as Hayashi overtook Yu Chenxuan, meaning Yu’s top performance meant she had to settle for silver ahead of Swiss Julia Rasmussen, who also took bronze.

Another local favorite, Li Meini, narrowly missed the podium despite also leading the route. Li finished fourth ahead of Ukrainian Rafael Kazbekova, who was just one second away from also joining the group of climbers who reached the top. She held 54 and finished in fifth place.

Briton Isabella Rinaldi finished sixth with a 43+ grip, Japan’s Nakamura Marin finished seventh with a 42+ grip and South Korean Lee Suye finished eighth with the same grip.

Like Hayashi, Jung was the last climber in his competition and was also feeling confident after completing every route in the qualification and semifinals so far. His mastery in the semifinals secured Jung the gold medal as he managed a 39+ climb just like silver medalist Hamada Ryusei of Japan, with his better countback scores securing the win.

Jung said: “I didn’t expect first place, but I expected a podium finish. I’m really happy and can’t wait for the next competition. This really gives me confidence for the bouldering competition.”

Alongside Jung and Hamada, bronze medalist Park Taesung, also from South Korea, was on the podium. Park climbed to 37+ to take the medal.

Fourth place went to Japan’s Nakata Kazuki with 36+ and fifth place went to South Korean Lee Hayool with the same score.

The Italian Andrea Ludovico Chelleris finished sixth on the 34+ grip, the Japanese Uehara Ikken finished seventh on the 28 grip and the American Beckett Hsin was unfortunately stopped on the 14 grip after a quickdraw error.

The Youth World Championships are now moving away from lead and towards the disciplines of bouldering and speed for all age groups – U16, U18, U20.

The full results of the Youth World Championships can be found here – https://ifsc.hopp.to/YW24results