Sorato Anraku's supremacy in bouldering and lead is clear. The Japanese climber didn't even need to participate in the men's lead semifinal to qualify as one of the top eight competitors to compete in the combined final.
Even second-place qualifier Toby Roberts of Great Britain was 14.8 points behind him, with a score of 122.2 points. Czechia's Adam Ondra closely followed Roberts as the third qualifier while American Colin Duffy squeezed into the final with the seventh highest combined score. Ondra moved up the wall with confidence before falling in the highest 10 holds.
Anraku, the youngest competitor in the field, skillfully scaled up the 15-meter wall to earn a combined score of 137 points.
"I have the confidence but I don’t want to be too confident because I can be first in the semifinal, and then I could not be first in the final," Anraku said. "I try not to think about whatever happened today, only improve on it, and I’m really focused on the final."
He qualified first after breezing past holds 11-20, which tripped up most of the field, including expected finalists Tomoa Narasaki of Japan and France's Sam Avezou, who was the host country's favorite.
Instead, Paul Jenft proved to be the French hero. He had a strong lead climb to boost himself into sixth place.
Duffy wasn't too far behind. After receiving an average boulder score, the American was able to jump into seventh place and qualify for the final after a solid lead performance.
"The route was very difficult, every move was strenuous and it required so much focus and just staying in it," Duffy said of the climb. "It was a good fight."
Team USA's Jesse Grupper finished 18th.
Spain's Alberto Gines Lopez made an impressive comeback from his low score from the bouldering semifinal. After heading into the lead portion ranked 14th, Gines Lopez climbed the highest in the lead semifinal, scoring 72 points to bump him into third place.
"I’m a lead specialist, so I already suffered in boulder the other day," Gines Lopez said. "Today it was time for the boulder [specialists] to suffer in lead."
Advancing to men's bouldering/lead combined final (Top 8):
Sorato Anraku (JPN): 137.0 points (69 points in boulder/68.0 points in lead)
Toby Roberts (GBR): 122.2 points (54.1 points in boulder/68.1 points in lead)
Adam Ondra (CZE): 116.8 points (48.7 points in boulder/68.1 points in lead)
Alberto Gines Lopez (ESP): 100.7 points (28.7 points in boulder/72.0 points in lead)
Jakob Schubert (AUT): 98.8 points (44.7 points in boulder/54.1 points in lead)
Paul Jenft (FRA): 91.1 points (34.1 points in boulder/57.0 points in lead)
Colin Duffy (USA): 87.9 points (33.8 points in boulder/54.1 points in lead)
Hamish McArthur (GBR): 79.3 points (34.2 points in boulder/45.1 points in lead)