Team GB are up to 14 golds at the Paris Olympics after Toby Roberts reigned supreme in the men’s combined climbing.
Roberts was competing alongside Hamish McArthur, who finished fifth, as Great Britain’s first ever male climbers at an Olympics and made further history by becoming the country’s maiden medallist in sport climbing, which was only introduced in Tokyo.
The 19-year-old from Surrey’s score of 155.2 saw him claim gold at his inaugural Games after Japan’s Anraku Sorato – the final climber and the favourite to win the event – fell in the lead section when just shy of matching Roberts.
Sorato, 17, had gone into the lead with an advantage after a brilliant score of 69.3 on the bouldering wall while Roberts was third in the first part of the competition before climbing the 15m wall in the second discipline.
The Briton’s score of 92.1 points out of 100 on the wall was only bettered by Austrian bronze medallist Jakob Schubert (96.0) and Czechia’s Adam Ondra (96.0), who ended sixth of the eight finalists.
“I’m absolutely lost for words. To find out I’ve got the gold in that moment was truly incredible. I’ve been training for this moment my whole life,” the teenager told the BBC after becoming an Olympic champion.
“To say it hasn’t sunk in is just an understatement. I don’t really know what to think right now. I imagine later there’ll be a flood of emotions and I’ll realise it’s a goal I’ve been training towards for 10 years basically. No words.
“Sorato’s an incredibly strong climber, an incredible guy, it’s insane how strong he is. It looked like he was climbing a bit nervous. He’s still an incredible guy and so, so strong.”
Sorato losing his grip led to audible gasps from the 6,000-strong crowd at the Le Bourget Climbing venue in Saint-Denis. Roberts, whose first recorded climb came at the age of three, finished almost 10 points clear of his Japanese opponent.
It comes after he became the first Brit to win a lead World Cup medal in 28 years during the 2022 World Cup.
While fifth-place Briton McArthur reflected: “That was close. But it was also close to being worse as well as it was close to being better. I really can’t complain about anything. I’ve had the time of my life being here.
“Right up until the Olympics I really wasn’t sure if I wanted to compete this year, even since qualifying. I thought about backing out and not coming. Just because I wasn’t sure how it would feel and if I wanted to be part of this.
“But I did myself proud. I enjoyed it more than I thought I ever could. I was loving it. It’s not every day thousands of people cheer your name. That feels good and I just wanted to make the most of that.
“It helped my climbing performance and I think I did a really good job on the wall and I’m most proud of my mindset throughout the whole thing. There’s been no point I’ve let the pressure get to me. It’s just been great the whole way.”
And BBC climbing reporter Tim Warwood said: “What a treat that was. What sporting drama once again we’ve been treated to. That was nothing short of exceptional. You’ve got to feel for Sorato, he looked unbeatable.
“He’s been flawless through the qualification and semi-finals. He was going up that wall like a gecko. He didn’t look tired, no fatigue, he looked like he was enjoying himself.
“The crowd were cheering him on and expected him to get the gold. Then that mistake. The noise of a 6,000-person gasp, I’ll never get over it. Everyone was in pure disbelief. Toby Roberts was gobsmacked and couldn’t believe what he’d seen.
“What Toby’s done, this is just going to inspire so many youngsters to get on a wall somewhere, indoors or outdoors. That was so inspiring.”
