From defending champions to fierce challengers and rising stars, the Boulder stage at Seoul 2025 is set for excitement.
As the fight to be called world champion in the Boulder discipline at the upcoming IFSC Climbing and Para Climbing World Championships Seoul 2025 begins, there will be only one current title holder back to defend the crown.
France’s Mickael Mawem has since moved on from competing after his 2023 win in Bern, Switzerland, so the men’s category will have a new winner. For the women, that title can be defended, and not many would bet against her doing so as it’s the double Olympic champion Janja Garnbret.
TEAM FRANCE RELIES ON DEPTH TO CHALLENGE GARNBRET
The Slovenian climber has taken time off during 2025 and limited her competitions, but even when she returns, she returns to the top step to take gold. On her first and only Boulder outing in 2025 at the IFSC World Cup in Innsbruck, Austria, Garnbret looked rusty in qualification before locking back in and taking gold yet again.
Finishing in the silver medal spot behind Garnbret at Bern 2023 was France’s Oriane Bertone, and in 2025 she has been on good form collecting a World Cup gold, three silvers and the overall series title.
The French have a strong team in both the men and women’s competition, as do Japan. Both countries have multiple World Cup medals from the season with Naïlé Meignan, Zélia Avezou and Agathe Calliet for the French and Sekikawa Melody, Matsufuji Anon and Nonaka Miho taking home silverware for Japan.
NAKAMURA LEADS JAPAN’S CAMPAIGN
One climber from Japan that won her first World Cup gold in 2025 was Nakamura Mao, and that medal already completed her target for the year: “My goal this season was to make it onto the podium, so I did that in Salt Lake!”
Reaching goals and targets affects everyone differently. When some may be buoyed by the release of finally winning a gold, for Nakamura it actually had the opposite effect: “Actually, that result didn’t really give me much confidence. Of course, it was the happiest moment of my life, but in Prague it turned into pressure, and I ended up climbing that was far from what I really want.
“So, since the Bern [World Cup], I’ve been climbing not as a winner, but with the mindset of a challenger.”
Nakamura’s goal now for this World Championships, well it’s quite simple: “To reach the final and get on the podium.”
Helping Nakamura achieve this will undoubtedly be the benefit of coming from a strong nation of climbers as the Japanese climber explains: “By doing simulations at the national training camp, we can practice at almost the same level as the World Cup.
“Also, when I climb at the gym, I can watch many strong climbers and use their movements to improve my own climbing.”
At the World Championships climbers have the option to go for just Boulder, just Lead, or maybe even both. For Nakamura, the choice is simple: “If you're good at both Boulder and Lead like Annie [Sanders] or Erin [McNeice], there's no need to pick one. But I’m not good at Lead, so I’ve decided to just stick with Boulder.”
NEW GENERATION EMERGING
The climbers Nakamura mentions have been doing both disciplines in 2025, and both successfully. With Boulder specifically in focus, Sanders will look to improve on her 14th position from the 2023 event, especially with Brooke Raboutou and Natalia Grossman both absent for one reason or another.
Sanders has a gold, a silver, and a bronze from the World Cup Series 2025 so is starting to really settle into life on the senior circuit, and she will be joined in Seoul by teammate Nekaia Sanders – no relation – who made her first final in Curitiba earlier in the year.
McNeice has a gold and a bronze this season in Boulder and will headline a women’s British team that includes Emma Edwards who has seen the final of a World Cup this year.
When Nekaia Sanders made the Curitiba final she competed against Italy’s Camilla Moroni who took a bronze medal, and both will concentrate solely on the Boulder discipline as well as Australia’s Oceania Mackenzie who is also becoming a regular in finals after winning her first World Cup medal last year in Prague.
SEO LEADS THE HOST NATION
Looking at the home nation, the most well-known name would be Seo Chaehyun who does have a World Cup medal to her name, a silver from Brixen in 2023. Seo has been competing in both Boulder and Lead in 2025 with a seventh-place finish in Keqiao, China, her best Boulder result.
LEE CARRIES HOME HOPES
On the men’s side of the competition, home support will undoubtedly be strong for Lee Dohyun, especially after two Boulder podium visits in 2025 and a bronze from the World Championships Bern 2023.
Lee didn’t quite manage a gold in the 2025 Series taking a silver and bronze, but China’s Pan Yufei was an Asian climber to make the top step, and for the first time in his career – a feat that helps build the confidence in a World Championships season.
FRANCE, JAPAN BRING THE FIREPOWER
Staying in Asia, it’s hard to not mention Japan yet again with a host of strong Boulder climbers and World Cup medallists set to be in action. The headliner may be Anraku Sorato who once again won the Series title after multiple golds, but the Japanese also boast names like the Narasaki brothers Tomoa and Meichi, and Amagasa Sohta.
Just like the women, if you are mentioning teams you have to mention France. Mawem may not be in Seoul, but the silver medallist from 2023 will be – Mejdi Schalck.
Schalck had three podium visits in 2025 with one gold and two silver, and on one of those visits he was joined by Samuel Richard who despite still competing at youth level took a bronze in Prague on the senior stage.
It’s not just Schalck and Richard either, the French also have their two Olympians Sam Avezou and Paul Jenft to count on to push the team forward.
OLYMPIC CHAMPION ROBERTS LOOKS TO BOUNCE BACK
When you talk about the Olympics, you have to mention Toby Roberts. A slow start to his 2025 season hit a low point in Bern when he finished in 51st place – but Roberts isn’t the Olympic champion for nothing. He returned next competition to win gold in Innsbruck and will be looking for more of the same in Seoul after finishing a disappointing 19th at the 2023 World Championships.
Roberts is also backed up by a strong British team with Max Milne and Dayan Akhtar both making a World Cup final and Hamish McArthur a Paris 2024 Olympian.
It’s not all about teams though, Belgium’s Hannes Van Duysen has been on the World Cup podium once again in 2025 and Slovenia’s Anze Peharc has been a regular finalist. Add in climbers like Austria’s Nicolai Uznik and Jan-Luca Posch and the men’s competition will be a lot of fun to watch.
THAILAND'S FUTURE IS PROMISING
The World Championships is an opportunity to really test yourself on the world stage in a big field of competitors, and it’s not always about taking a medal home, sometimes it’s about the experience you gain, and that is the case for Thailand’s Auswin Aueareechit.
Talking about his goal for the event Aueareechit said: “Making semi-finals in either Lead or Boulder. Hopefully both. That’s my goal.”
Aueareechit will be doing both disciplines in Seoul, so which one is his favourite?
“I like Boulder because it's more fun, and there's less pressure. I thought I was better at Lead, but recently my Boulder results are better, so now I don't know.”
Those better results include a gold medal in the Youth Asian Championships and a bronze in the Youth World Championships, and still only 17, Aueareechit can give his opinion of the difference between the youth and senior competitions in 2025: “I think the style of routesetting is similar, but it's much harder in the World Cups. Worse holds and more focus on strength and power, especially for the men. And the athletes are much stronger.”
With much stronger climbers and harder holds and routes expected, how has the preparation been for Aueareechit? “Good. I have been doing a lot of youth and regional comps, but I think I'm ready.”
The young climber will need to be ready, and he will have teammates Ardch Intrachupongse and Teeraphon Boondech alongside him in South Korea to take on the world’s best.
NEXT UP
Climbing will start for all the Boulder athletes on Tuesday, 23 September with the men’s qualification at 9:00 (UTC+9:00), before women begin their qualification round at 16:00.
News and updates about the event will be available on the IFSC website and on the Federation’s digital channels: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube, and exclusively for the Chinese audience, Bilibili, Douyin, Weibo, and Xiaohongshu.
