That moment when you top the rankings after just two boulders on your Olympic debut. That's the way things started this Monday 5 August in the first climbing competition of the week, with men's Boulder semi-finals. Anraku Sorato did just that, with the 17-year-old phenomenon from Japan laying down a huge marker in the semi-finals of the sport climbing men’s Boulder and Lead event at Paris 2024.

With four boulders to scale in total, world number one Anraku started with two top holds to take a commanding 14.6-point lead (69.0) overall going into Wednesday’s Lead semi-final.

Reigning Olympic champion Alberto Gines Lopez (28.7) has work to do, meanwhile, placing 14th, while Anraku’s compatriot Narasaki Tomoa (54.4) was second. Only the top eight athletes with the best combined total will make Friday’s final, with legendary climber Adam Ondra (48.7), Team GB’s Toby Roberts (54.1) and French hope Sam Avezou (49.2) also impressing on Monday (5 August).

With varying degrees of difficulty, all four boulders had their challenges, and it was a while before a top hold was achieved. The first to do so was Austria’s bronze medallist from Tokyo 2020, Jakob Schubert, on the first boulder, but the noise from that moment was nothing on the levels when home hope Avezou scaled the fourth and final boulder shortly after.

Avezou won the Olympic Qualifier Series event in Budapest in June, and roared as he landed back on the mat to the delight of this crowd. Meanwhile, Czechia's Ondra – chasing Olympic gold after missing out on the podium at Tokyo 2020 – saved his best for last to finish fifth overall after scoring 24.8 on the last boulder, as did Japan’s Narasaki.

However, this half of the semi-final belonged to Anraku. It was a masterclass from the rising star, who surpassed his opening 24.9 with a perfect 25.0 on the second boulder, drawing gasps from the crowd.

The gravity-defying climb involved a daring leap for the top hold, with the audience appreciating the move as he jumped up to first place. Just after Great Britain’s Roberts scored 24.7 on the final boulder to finish third, Anraku came out to a huge roar as the last climber to complete this stage of the event. With the stage to himself, Anraku was unable to achieve a third top hold, but heading into Wednesday’s lead semi-final, he is primed to make the final and looks to be the climber to beat.

Ginés, needing a good result in difficulty

Olympic champion Alberto Ginés will need a strong performance in the difficulty event if he is to have any chance of defending his title in the revamped sport climbing event at the Paris 2024 Games.

In his first two routes, he was one of the quickest to reach the first two scoring holds, scoring 9.9 and 9.7 in the initial half of the bouldering portion of the test. On the third route, he had to make several attempts with a pendulum movement until he managed to settle on the piece that granted access to the first score, achieving no more than 4.1. On the fourth route, with accumulated fatigue, he only managed to score on the first hold, earning 5 points. In total, he finished with 28.7 points, in provisional fifth position, and was disgruntled at his inability to reach the top of any route.

"It's frustrating that nobody has reached the top so far. It's evenly matched, and luckily for me, the tie-breaker is going to be on the rope," said the Extremaduran to the Spanish public TV channel RTVE before knowing the outcome of the semi-final.

Aleksandra Mirosław Breaks Her Own Record

Aleksandra Mirosław wowed the crowd with a stunning world record time of 6.06 seconds in the women’s Speed qualifying at Paris 2024, just moments after breaking her previous world record. The Polish sport climbing great, a two-time Speed world champion, reached the top in 6.21 seconds in her first climb, bettering the 6.24 she had set in September 2023, and went even quicker shortly after with a new record of 6.06 seconds.

Up against South Africa’s Aniya Holder in the seeding run, Mirosław was greeted with huge cheers at the Le Bourget Climbing Venue. Going up Lane B first, Mirosław scaled the wall in a staggering 6.21 seconds, celebrating on her way back down before taking a huge breath to take in the moment.

Not even 20 minutes later, this time in Lane A with an expectant crowd watching on, the 30-year-old dazzled again. Totally in the zone, Mirosław slapped the button at the top of the wall, projecting a time of 6.06 seconds across the venue. This prompted an even bigger celebration from her, her team, and those watching. It pushes the Pole within milliseconds of breaking the six-second barrier, which had been unthinkable just a few years ago.

While she may well have her sights set on breaking that barrier, the gold medal is firmly on her mind at these Olympics. In her bid for gold, Mirosław breezed through the elimination round that followed, going 6.10 seconds—just 0.04 seconds off her new record—to knock out Holder.