Climber Seo Chae-hyun surmounts injury to Asian Games gold, already has eyes on Olympics podium

NAGOYA, Japan — Seo Chae-hyun overcame a thumb injury on Saturday to become the first Korean woman to win gold in sport climbing at the Asian Games. The 23-year-old now believes that she can reach the podium at the Los Angeles Olympics in two years

She was the only climber to reach the top hold in the women’s lead final at Port Messe Nagoya, edging out Japan’s Ai Mori for the title at the Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026

After taking silver in the combined event at the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023 and bronze in bouldering at this year’s Games, Seo finally struck gold in her strongest discipline

“I came into the Asian Games aiming for gold in lead and a medal in bouldering, so I’m proud and honored to have accomplished both,” she said at a press conference at the Korea House on Sunday

Seo won gold in her specialty: lead, in which climbers have six minutes to scale a 15-meter (49.2-foot) wall as high as possible. She also took bronze in bouldering, in which athletes must solve a series of climbing problems

But her journey to the top has not been smooth

“I injured my thumb before the Games, which made training difficult,” she said. “I kept it taped even through warm-ups and only took the tape off when it was time to compete. […] Competing four days in a row is unusual, so I was drained both mentally and physically. The hardest part was convincing myself that I wasn’t tired.”

Mori denied Seo gold at the Hangzhou Games, during which rain forced organizers to cancel the final and left the standings to be determined by the qualification and semifinal rounds

“I was confident that I could win gold, but then it rained,” Seo said. “At the time, I felt that it was unfair and wondered why they had canceled the event when it seemed like we could still compete. But I got over it quickly. I treated this year’s Asian Games as a fresh start. The disciplines were separate this time, so I saw it as a great chance to win two medals and focused on that.”

Climbing came naturally to Seo. She started at age 7, influenced by her parents, as her father is also a climber

Her breakthrough came with gold in lead at the IFSC Climbing World Championships in Moscow in 2021, a result that established her as Kim Ja-in’s successor

Seo went on to finish eighth at the Tokyo Olympics and sixth in the combined lead and bouldering event in Paris

Now holding an Asian Games title, her next challenge is the Olympic podium

“With the Olympic qualifiers coming next year, the Los Angeles [event] already feels just around the corner,” Seo said

With her strengthened self-confidence, she is already assessing what she needs to do to prepare for the Olympics

“I had lost to Mori quite a few times, so I thought beating her would be difficult,” she said. “But after winning this time, I feel like I’m fully capable of winning against her. If I prepare even more thoroughly for the Olympics and work on areas that I still need to improve, I think that I’ll have a better chance of winning a medal because lead will be a separate event, unlike in Paris.”

Her coach also sees reason for optimism ahead of Los Angeles, slated for the summer of 2028. 

“This was the first time speed, bouldering and lead were split into separate events, and we proved we could win medals,” coach Park Hee-yong said. “We’ve also collected plenty of World Cup medals this season. The United States is making rapid progress ahead of a home Olympics, and Europe remains a traditional powerhouse. We made the Olympic final twice before but came away without a medal. In Los Angeles, our strongest events will be contested separately. We’ll be going there to win a medal.”

BY KIM HYO-KYOUNG [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]

Source: www.koreajoongangdaily.com