Team Japan’s double delight ends 2026 season
Team Japan won the Lead competition at home in Fukuoka adding to their win in Boulder at the season ending World Climbing Nations Grand Finale
With a Boulder win already in the bag, Team Japan made the most of home advantage to claim the Lead prize ahead of South Korea and USA.
After qualification in the morning which had eliminated Team Australia, Japan’s team of Ryu Nakagawa, Hana Koike, Zento Murashita and Neo Suzuki had to up their game for the final round after finishing second behind the South Korean team. And that is exactly what they did.
Known more for his Boulder skills, Jongwon Chon feel relatively early slightly mis-reading the route that allowed Murashita to edge an advantage for the team.
Nakagawa was next to extend the lead up against Chaeyeong Kim, and the result was the same. Japan moved further ahead.
The next match up was a heavyweight one. World champion Dohyun Lee against 2026 Lead series winner Suzuki. Lee climbed well but fell short of the top, which Suzuki made.
After Koike finished her climb, her team’s total was at the point that no matter what Chaehyun Seo did, the Japanese team were out of sight in first for the gold.
With a total points tally of 157.5pts, Team Japan showed their dominance as deserving winners by winning all of their matchups with high points on the wall. South Korea finished in second with 125pts.
Team USA had started well with Vail Everett Murashita’s closest competitor, but the strength of the Asian teams saw them pull away. And it was Everett who perhaps won the bronze medal for his team as Francesca Hain, Nathan Sato and Zoe Yi were similarly matched with their Swiss counterparts.
Like Chon, Julian Clémence and Sofya Yokoyama are known more for Boulder, and with Moreno Ghilardi and Francesca Walther they fell behind USA. The Americans finished on 105pts for third and Switzerland finished with 96.5pts for fourth.
The podiums brought a close to the Nations Grand Finale, and the 2026 season.
