The men's Boulder & Lead final was the third medal event in Sport Climbing at Paris 2024 here at Le Bourget. In an emotional finale, Team GB's Toby Roberts won gold ahead of Japan's Sorato Anraku and Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist Jakob Schubert of Austria - a podium featuring both the youngest and the oldest competitor in the Boulder & Lead event and a first-ever British Olympic medallist in Sport Climbing.

A tough but exciting Boulder round separated the field into two distinct halves. 17-year-old Sorato Anraku - the youngest athlete in the competition - led the round with two Tops and 69.3 points. Just 15.4 points separated the top four athletes, with Colin Duffy in second on 68.3, Toby Roberts on 63.1 and Hamish McArthur in 4th on 53.9. This difference in points would, hypothetically, be equivalent to just four holds in the highest section of the Lead route.

33-year-old Jakob Schubert (AUT) was just behind in 5th with one Top, but kept in touch with 43.6 points, while Adam Ondra (CZE), reigning Olympic champion Alberto Ginés-López (ESP) and Paul Jenft (FRA) ultimately failed to gather enough points ahead of Lead. The interim scores meant that they were out of medal contention and climbing for pride when they stepped onto the Lead wall with around 24 points each. This meant that a new men's Olympic Champion in Boulder & Lead would be crowned.

The Boulder round was also a triumph in terms of separation for the route setters, whose boulders each received one Top, with some crowd-pleasing multiple tops on the opening climb. B1 was an "electric" Boulder, according to the routesetters, designed to excite the crowd, and was topped by five athletes. The second slab Boulder had a tricky finish, which only Sorato topped with comparative ease. The third Boulder was burly with an awkward finishing match, topped by Toby alone after displaying his trademark tenacity to match the final hold - a Top that would prove crucial later in the competition. Finally, B4 was a fast paddle boulder with a spectacular swinging finish, on which Colin Duffy (USA) achieved the only Top.

Ahead of their strongest discipline, the chances of a medal for both of the British athletes looked high.

Hamish McArthur climbed first, appearing relaxed and setting an initial highpoint of 72.0 points. Next, Colin Duffy climbed into a provisional lead with a strong climb to 68.1, just below Hamish's highpoint, but Colin overtook him due to his higher Boulder score. With a score of 125.9, Hamish put himself more than 100 points clear of Paul Jenft, Adam Ondra, and Alberto Gines-Lopez and the lowest that he could finish was now 5th place. Paul fell sooner on 54.0 points despite a home crowd roaring him up the wall. 

Jakob Schubert was next to climb. In Tokyo 2020, he won Bronze after a poor Boulder and Speed round by nearly topping the Lead route. Today, he pulled off a similar feat with a stunning climb to score 96/100 points in Lead, just shy of the finish, and jumped to the top of the combined leaderboard, beating Colin by just 3.2 points. Had Jakob fallen just a single hold earlier, or Colin climbed a single hold further, their positions would have been reversed. 

This guaranteed back-to-back Olympic medals for the Austrian - the only Sport Climbing athlete to win two Olympic medals to date (pending Janja Garnbret's performance tomorrow) and the oldest competitor in the Boulder & Lead competition - being almost the age of Toby and Sorato combined.

Alberto fell at 92.1, one hold below Jakob. He looked deflated - having realised after Boulder that he would likely have too much ground to make up - but hugged Jakob and the other competitors.

Toby Roberts entered the stage and needed 73 points for a guaranteed podium. At one point, he teased anxious onlookers with a one-arm-hang before carrying on up to the crucial blue section where the most valuable points were within reach. On securing the 76-point hold, he was guaranteed a medal. When he surpassed Jakob's combined total and eventually fell at 92.1, he was guaranteed silver.

Just one man remained backstage: 17-year-old Sorato Anraku, the top-ranked male competition climber in the world of 2023 and 2024 in both disciplines - and arguably the favourite for gold. Sorato needed to score 85.5 points - the fourth-to-last hold - for gold and seemed in control until he hesitated and fell at 76.1. In an instant, Toby had become Olympic Champion - by 9.8 points.

Toby was unaware of what the fall meant, before his entourage signalled to him with a single finger what he had achieved. He held up his index finger in disbelief, bowing his head down and mouthing "Oh my God" as the reality started to sink in. His eyes welled-up and he held his head in his hands as he processed his result. 

The tune of Sweet Caroline filled the arena and swarms of British press headed to interview Team GB's latest gold medallist, whose rise to the top of the IFSC circuit in 2023 - with wins in both Boulder and Lead World Cups, plus a victory in a tense Olympic Qualifier event in Laval - had earned him medal-contender status.

When asked why his win came as a shock to him, and whether he had expected Sorato to beat him, Toby said: "To find out you've won Olympic gold, there's definitely going to be a lot of shock! I tried to remove all expectations and then to realise I'd won was just a rush of adrenaline and emotion and happiness.

"I've been working towards this for like 10 years, my dad and I created a plan to get to this stage and it's been a journey, there have been a lot of competitions and ups and downs. But to finally be on the stage competing in front of this crowd and to win the gold medal was just like a dream come true."

Toby explained that he knew he was in contention after a strong Boulder round. He said:

"There was definitely a bit of adrenaline, like 'You can take it, you can get a good result, you can get a medal!' But it was really important to calm myself down for Lead so I relaxed and put in a good performance."

What calmed him down before he walked out? He listened to music: Lose Yourself by Eminem. "That's my go-to. Yeah, it really gets me psyched!" he said.

When we asked about the first words exchanged between him and his father/coach Tristian immediately after the gold was confirmed, Toby said: "Just, like 'What the...?!' - I probably can't say that!"

On how he will celebrate, he said: "I'm not really sure, I'll go and have a party somewhere but I have to be up tomorrow to watch the women's final so I'm pretty psyched for that." He is also planning some time on rock to relax after the Games. 

Tristian told us afterwards about the stress of watching his son climb today: "As soon as he pulls on the wall there is nothing to do from a coaching perspective, the 'parent' kicks in. It was just really hard to watch, I have no idea what my heart rate reached just from sitting still. It was an emotional rollercoaster. It's hard to watch when you are helpless and you know it means so much to him."

Silver medallist Sorato Anraku told the media: "I'm sad, and I regret that I could not make the best of Boulder & Lead. On the third and fourth boulder I could not reach the top. In the lead my feet weren't stable enough, which started in the middle of the route. But I'm still proud of myself. I didn't feel pressure. My goal was a gold medal, that was my aim."

In interviews after the round, Jakob described his feelings on winning a second Olympic bronze:

"The whole process of how I won it was a bit different in Tokyo, I felt like the medal was out of reach, then I won it. I think because I already had the bronze medal from Tokyo, I went here with the goal, obviously, of winning gold or silver. Now I ended up with another bronze - it is not the gold, but still, I'm very happy I have another Olympic medal. It's the second Olympic Games for climbing, and I've managed to win another medal, and I'm very proud of that." 

After finishing 7th, Alberto revealed that he has suffered from an injury that has impaired his training: 

"For training bouldering, it was such a big problem, especially for slopers, and so we couldn't train it. I don't want to make it an excuse for this. For competing, I didn't feel it because we injected some anaesthetic to block the pain. I would love to be wearing a medal on my chest, but today I couldn't show my best performance in bouldering. And in Lead it was pretty difficult to make a difference (as a strong lead climber) because it was an easy route, or a route where the boulderers could score many points. So it was hard to make a difference from that. After the boulder round it was mainly over. But luckily it was probably my last Boulder round ever because I will stick to Lead climbing for Los Angeles (2028). Now I can stick to my favourite thing." 

Adam Ondra - the only father in the men's Boulder & Lead event - equalled Jakob Schubert's high-point and guaranteed a 6th place minimum to match his finish in Tokyo. He told the media:

"I'm disappointed and happy at the same time. In all of my career I always thought that lead climbing was the discipline that really mattered to me. So not having the medal is a big disappointment, but knowing that if the lead was a single discipline, I would get gold, actually feels really nice, that's for sure. Showing how hard I trained meant a lot to me and waving into the camera and knowing that my family, my wife and my son, are at the other end of the screen meant a lot and I felt proud."

On whether he will compete in Los Angeles 2028, the 31-year-old said:

"If Lead is a single discipline, I might have my chance, but I haven't really made a decision. If they are not separated, I'm pretty sure I don't have a chance. My body is not made for bouldering. I'm probably towards the end of my competition career, but I still want to climb many years on the rock and I don't want to completely break my body just for bouldering." 

Hamish McArthur finished 5th overall - a result beyond his own hopes and imagination, if not beyond his talent.

"I'm pretty happy with that. The thing I'm most proud of is that I managed to come out here and not feel the pressure at all. I didn't let that distract me from enjoying myself. I found the perfect balance today. I was calm but I was also very happy and relaxed and just wanted to show everyone a good time. I was celebrating when I knew I'd come fifth. I just don't have any complaints. The whole event is like nothing I've ever done before and I wasn't even sure that I was going to compete at this Olympics, because I didn't want to put too much pressure on myself to compete. But I showed up and I'm so proud of myself for doing that and having a good time. I just wasn't expecting to have such a smile on my face for the whole event!"

When we spoke to Hamish's coaches Mark and Ellie Glennie this morning, they were simply proud that he had reached finals. To place 5th in the Olympic Games after a period of doubt and injury makes his achievement all the more impressive. 

Hamish added that his teammate Toby is "one of the best [athletes} at handling pressure," and spoke to his drive and determination. "This is the most important thing in the world for him and he's come out with that expectation on himself and everyone else's expectation on him and performed," he said.

After the final, we bumped into a certain Alex Honnold, who is working at the event. He commented on the standard of the competition and the talent of the GB Climbing Team:

"The competition has been incredible, especially the men's final today, seeing eight of the best climbers in the world performing at their best. I feel like we got to see a real show. I'd say that Britain really exceeded expectations. I mean, Toby winning gold is impressive. Maybe not shocking, because he was sort of a favourite for top four, let's say, but winning gold, you're like, oh, he had a good day. That's impressive. And then seeing Hamish. I was like, who's Hamish? He's doing great. What a boss. I was so psyched watching him - and Erin too - I think, wildly exceeding expectations. It's so impressive to see. I really like seeing the really young climbers outperform themselves, do the best they've ever done on the biggest stage - that's any athlete's fantasy, to have their best day ever when it matters the most. It's so cool."

Paris 2024 has certainly been a successful event for GB Climbing so far, with more medal potential still to come as Erin McNeice prepares to climb in the women's Boulder and Lead final tomorrow...

Rank	Athlete	Boulder (Rank)	Lead (Rank)	Total
1	Toby Roberts	63.1 (3)	92.1 (3)	155.2
2	Sorato Anraku	69.3 (1)	76.1 (5)	145.4
3	Jakob Schubert	43.6 (5)	96 (1)	139.6
4	Colin Duffy	68.3 (2)	68.1 (7)	136.4
5	Hamish McArthur	53.9 (4)	72 (6)	125.9
6	Adam Ondra	24.1 (7)	96 (1)	120.1
7	Alberto Ginés López	24.1 (7)	92.1 (3)	116.2
8	Paul Jenft	24.4 (6)	54 (8)	78.4