Lee Do-hyun and Seo Chae-hyun, the faces of South Korean sport climbing, are aiming for the country's first simultaneous men's and women's gold medals at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.
In telephone interviews with Seoul Economic Daily on the 28th, both climbers spoke with a mix of confidence and urgency. "I am truly grateful and honored to stand on the Asian Games stage for a second time," Lee said. "I will pour everything I have prepared onto the wall." Seo said she was excited about what she could show in competition. "As a member of the national team, I will do my best in the place I have been given and come back," she said.
Since sport climbing became an official event at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games, South Korea has won one gold, three silver and three bronze medals at the Asian Games. At the most recent Games in Hangzhou, Lee and Seo each took silver in the combined event, which merged lead and boulder. Starting with this edition, however, lead and boulder are separate events with their own medals, and the two plan to maximize their individual strengths and reach the top of the podium at the same time.
Both rank among the world's elite. Lee is ranked second in the world in boulder and sixth in lead, while Seo is second in lead. Their push for gold begins with the men's boulder semifinal on the 29th for Lee and the women's boulder semifinal on the 30th for Seo.
"If I climb without regret, in the process or the result, I think I can win the gold," Lee said, adding a lighthearted pledge: "If I take gold, I will do a back tumble as my celebration." Seo said that if Lee reaches the podium first in the men's boulder final on the 30th, it would be a major source of motivation. "Rather than being especially nervous because it is the Asian Games, I will do my best as usual and make sure I stand at the top of the podium," she said.
