IFSC Boulder World Cup Salt Lake City: Nakamura wins first gold, Anraku ties record

Salt Lake City, Utah (ABC4 Sports) – The IFSC Boulder World Cup in Salt Lake City wrapped up on Sunday. It was a weekend of firsts and lasts for Japan as Nakamura Mao claimed her first gold, Anraku Sorato made history with a third straight win in Salt Lake, and Sugimoto Rei announced his retirement from competing internationally.

On Saturday, after three heartbreaking fourth-place finishes in previous World Cups, Nakamura Mao finally reached the top of the podium, earning her first ever IFSC World Cup gold medal. Nakamura dominated the semifinal with a perfect 100 point score, then carried that momentum into the final. She flashed the first two boulders and became the only finalist to top the third problem. A first attempt zone on Boulder 4 brought her final score to 84.7 points, clinching gold.

“I can’t believe it,” Nakamura said. “I’ve had many fourth places, and I can’t believe I have a medal. So many people were cheering for me, so I just tried to podium for them. I was just so excited.”

France’s Zélia Avezou took silver with 70 points, finishing ahead of USA’s Annie Sanders thanks to a stronger semifinal. Both climbers were tied in score with France’s Oriane Bertone, who was edged out of the medals.

On Sunday at the men’s finals, Anraku Sorato captured his third straight Salt Lake Bouldering World Cup gold, matching Austria’s Kilian Fischhuber as the only male climbers to win three years in a row in one city. Despite a slow start only reaching the zone on Boulder 1 and restarting Boulder 2 due to a false start, Anraku flashed Boulder 3 and topped Boulder 4 to finish with 84.4 points and the gold.

“I want to win a fourth medal, but I don’t want to think about it,” Anraku said. “Just one competition at a time.”

Amagasa Sohta added a silver for Japan with 69.6 points, and South Korea’s Lee Dohyun sealed bronze with a crucial top on the final boulder, scoring 69.5. USA’s Colin Duffy had an electric start topping out on his first two boulders, but he couldnt keep the momentum going into the last two and finished the night in 4th. We caught up with him after the event to talk about being back in the finals.

“I haven’t made the finals for a Bouldering World Cup since 2022, so I’ve been waiting on this for years, and I was just so happy to make it back and really took advantage of this opportunity. I’m sticking around for a few days to train here in Salt Lake… and then the next comp [for me] is in Prague at the start of June so I’ll train and move on to the next one.”

For Sugimoto Rei, the event marked a likely farewell from international competition. The seasoned Japanese climber received an emotional send-off from the crowd and his teammates, capping off what’s expected to be his final World Cup appearance.

“After semi-final I was so happy to be in the final with Rei and enjoy it with him and all the other Japanese team,” Amagasa added. “I got a lot of energy from that. I was excited, a good excitement.”

The IFSC Boulder World Cup tour now shifts to Denver, Colorado with the next event set for May 30-31.