Annie Sanders & Sorato Anraku win first Boulder World Cup in Keqiao

The first IFSC World Cup of the 2025 season came to a close in Keqiao, China with USA’s Annie Sanders and Japan’s Anraku Sorato standing on the top step of the Boulder podiums.

Taking place at the purpose built, dedicated climbing venue – the Keqiao Yangshan Climbing Center – all three days of competition were played out in front of a capacity crowd of 1200 people a day.

After taking her first gold in the 2024 finale in Seoul, South Korea, Sanders carried on her golden form into the new season, She was joined by silver medallist Oriane Bertone of France who is back on the circuit after some time off after her home Olympic Games, and bronze medallist Erin McNeice of Great Britain.

In the men’s competition, Anraku produced a top-quality final round of 99.7pts out of 100 to beat South Korea’s Lee Dohyun. Lee had been looking like the one to beat topping every boulder in the competition, but in Boulder, attempts to top count, and Anraku was the cleaner climber in the final. The bronze was taken by another Japanese climber, Narasaki Meichi.

WOMEN'S COMPETITION
USA’s Annie Sanders doubled her IFSC World Cup Boulder gold tally taking top spot in Keqiao, China in the first event of the season. Breaking the golden barrier in Seoul in the 2024 season finale, Sanders made it two from two with another gold at the start of the 2025 Series.

Sanders however didn’t get off to the best start in the final – which now features eight climbers – and thought her podium push was over before it had even began: “I’m pretty excited honestly. I definitely wasn’t expecting it, especially after the first boulder where I was frustrated and pretty much not getting anywhere on the second boulder. I was in a bit of a bad headspace, but the third boulder lightened my mood and the fourth I just gave it everything to get to the zone.”

Sanders won gold with 54.7pts ahead of France’s Oriane Bertone in second and Great Britain’s Erin McNeice in third.

Bertone had the chance to take gold as the final climber out on the mat, but had to top to do so. She made it to the zone in the first attempt for 10pts, which crucially moved her ahead of McNeice by .01pts for a silver medal place. The French climber couldn’t continue the progress to the top though and had to settle for the silver with 44.9pts.

McNeice, Bertone and Sanders all topped boulder three, but it was the attempts that mattered as McNeice got her bronze with 44.8pts after having one more attempt for her top than Bertone.

Japan’s Nakamura Mao just missed out on a podium despite also topping boulder three. She led a trio of Japanese climbers finishing fourth with 44.4pts ahead of teammates Nonaka Miho and Sekikawa Melody who was competing in her first World Cup final.

Nonaka came out of the blocks flying and was the only climber to top the first boulder, but the Japanese climber couldn’t continue the run, and her challenge faded away to fifth place on 44.1pts.

Sekikawa scored 29.9pts for sixth place ahead of South Korea’s Seo Chaehyun in seventh on 19.6pts, and Australia’s Oce Mackenzie, who told us after the semi-final that she was struggling with her skin, finished in eighth with 9.9pts.

MEN'S COMPETITION
Japan’s Anraku Sorato is back with a bang in 2025 taking the first men’s IFSC Boulder World Cup gold in Keqiao, China. Despite winning a silver medal at Paris 2024, the young Japanese climber has very high standards of himself and is happy to return to the top step of the podium – a place he has started to feel very comfortable ever since his first senior season in 2023. The Keqiao gold is Anraku’s third in Boulder at the World Cup level, but it wasn’t easy with South Korea’s Lee Dohyun seemingly on fire throughout the whole event.

Topping all four final boulders gave Anraku a score of 99.7pts ahead of silver medallist Lee who with his four tops was the only climber in the competition to top every single boulder he faced in China.

With 0.1pts deducted for a failed attempt from a possible 25pts for a flash, those attempts make a difference in Boulder climbing, and Anraku made less in the final as Lee scored 99.3pts.

After his win Anraku said: “I had a good time at this comp. I really enjoyed the problems. I liked M4 because I haven’t won recently because I’m not always sending the last boulder, this time I could though, so I am happy.”

As one of the earlier climbers out, Japan’s Narasaki Meichi made sure Anraku and Lee had to work on the final boulder for their medals. He set a score of 83.9pts, which despite Anraku and Lee topping, ensured a bronze medal for the Japanese climber. Meichi finished on the podium ahead of brother Tomoa who scored 69.9pts with two tops to Meichi’s three.

Mejdi Schalck led a French trio, and arguably had the biggest cheer of the night as he reversed his way to a top on the final boulder. In a way only Schalck could have done, he faced out toward the crowd as he backed his way up to the top to finish in fifth with 69.5pts. On the same score was teammate Sam Avezou in sixth position ahead of Paul Jenft in seventh on 44.6pts.

Last but by no means least was Israel’s Oren Prihed, who despite finishing in eighth with 29.7pts needs to be applauded for making it all the way to the final on his very first appearance at a World Cup.