Kokoro Fujii finishes ahead of reigning champ Tomoya Narasaki to win bouldering world title

Kokoro Fujii received the boys’s bouldering world championship on Sunday, ending forward of compatriot and defending champion Tomoa Narasaki within the six-man remaining in Moscow.

Fujii was the one climber to beat the primary drawback within the remaining as he made it over all 4 boulders. Narasaki, the world champion in 2016 and 2019, made it previous three.

“I really feel unbelievable,” Fujii mentioned after successful his maiden world title.”I can’t imagine it. It’s a dream

Fujii secured the fourth straight victory within the occasion by a Japanese climber, whereas it was the primary time two Japanese shared the rostrum.

The world title had beforehand been out of attain for Fujii, who was second general in bouldering on the 2016 World Cup behind Narasaki.

The 28-year-old was denied a spot at this summer time’s Tokyo Olympics after the Courtroom of Arbitration for Sport dismissed a swimsuit by the Japan Mountaineering and Sport Climbing Affiliation over qualification coverage confusion by the Worldwide Federation of Sport Climbing.

“You possibly can’t know what the nervousness was like if you happen to weren’t there,” Fujii, who turned an expert climber this 12 months, has mentioned of the Olympics. “I strongly thought I need to really feel it myself in three years’ time.”

For Narasaki, the runner-up end was a great addition after a disappointing fourth-place end on the Tokyo Video games, the place a mistake within the pace part value him gold within the climbing competitors that mixed three disciplines.

“Fujii put in an excellent efficiency, making an incredible begin towards the Paris Olympics,” Japan head coach Hiroshi Yasui mentioned. “Narasaki additionally offered a constructive begin forward of the brand new season,”

France’s Manuel Cornu took bronze, whereas Japan’s Yoshiyuki Ogata and Tomoaki Takata have been eradicated within the semis.