France’s Mejdi Schalck pulled out a stellar final performance for what he called his ‘comeback’ to the international stage taking gold at the IFSC Boulder World Cup in Prague, Czechia.

There was a buzz around Japan’s Anraku Sorato who was going for a fourth Boulder gold in a row, but Schalck had other ideas and elevated his climbing to another level topping all final boulders for a dominant display.

Schalck has been in every Boulder final so far in 2025 and has a silver medal to his name from Curitiba, Brazil, but you could feel that he wanted more every time he took to the mats and now has his gold to show for his efforts.

Talking about his win Schalck said: “It feels a bit like a comeback because last year I had a pretty hard year. I didn’t qualify for the Olympics, so I stayed focused and trained really hard this winter, so it’s a comeback. I’m back, and it feels good to be back.”

The crowd certainly enjoyed seeing Schalck ‘back’ and got to see all the boulders topped by the Frenchman: “I really liked all the boulders; it was a lot of coordination and dynamic boulders which is really my style, so I liked it.

“The second was the hardest, I was the only climber to send it, and it was a big fight for that. It was crazy. The crowd was cheering, and it was amazing.”

As the only climber to complete all four, Schalck won with a score of 99.1pts above arguable the season’s most consistent performer, Anraku who took silver with 84.1pts.

Anraku has been on fire in 2025 and second is his lowest position in Boulder, but in Prague, it’s a little bit different: “Two years ago here I was seventh, last year I was fourth, and now second, so next year, first.”

Talking about his silver medal Anraku said: “Honestly, I’m not disappointed with the result. The final had a lot of coordination, I’m not bad at it, but I’m not great either. I have to say the boulders and the crowd here were amazing.”

Even with 84.1pts and a silver confirmed, it could have been very different for Anraku who had to top the last boulder to even get a medal. Before he started his first attempt on the final boulder he was down in seventh. He couldn’t overhaul Schalck, but he could take over his teammate Samuel Richard who was competing in his first ever final.

Despite being out as one of the earlier climbers, his 84.1pts was a mark that even the experienced climbers couldn’t beat, and it was only on countback that he dropped below Anraku for bronze – still a great return for a first final.

Talking about his Prague event Richard said: “I felt pressure after semis but I was relieved I was in finals as it was a bit of a lifetime objective, and to medal too is crazy. I was relaxed in finals, shaking a little, but I was in the mood because I knew it was already good just making it there.”

Richard’s bronze wasn’t luck, far from it. It was about enjoying the experience and trusting the process and his training: “There was a lot of coordination, I would have preferred to have crimps, but I love coordination too and I was in the flow.

“I practiced coordination a lot this year because before I wasn’t so good so it’s nice to see the difference in my former weak points.”

With Anraku needing a top to medal on his final climb and Richard having a high score, it meant that someone had to be pushed down the order and into fourth, and that person was his Anraku’s teammate, Amagasa Sohta.

Amagasa finished with a score of 69.5pts and was ahead of China’s Pan Yufei who scored 69.2pts.

A close final that went down to the wire saw Belgium’s Hannes Van Duysen finish sixth on 69.0pts and the gold medallist in Prague for the past two years, South Korea’s Lee Dohyun, in seventh with 59.9pts.

Slovenia’s Anze Peharc once again made a 2025 Boulder final and finished in eighth with 44.2pts.

The IFSC Boulder World Cup Prague continues tomorrow with the women first battling it out for a final’s place from the semi-final in the morning at 09:30 local time, before the last act of the event, crowning a women’s champion in the evening at 18:00.

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, Douyin, Weibo, and Xiaohongshu.