NAGOYA, Japan, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- China claimed two sport climbing gold medals at the 2026 Asian Games on Thursday, with Zhang Yuetong winning the women's boulder title and Chu Shouhong triumphing in the men's speed event.
In the women's boulder final, Zhang scored 85.0 points to edge Japan's Ai Mori by just 0.2 points.
Zhang completed each of the first three problems on her first attempt, earning 25 points on each, before scoring 10 points on the fourth.
Mori took silver with 84.8 points, while South Korea's Seo Chae-hyun claimed bronze with 70.0. China's Luo Zhilu finished fourth.
"I was anxious for quite a long time before the competition because I was thinking too much. Today, I focused more on making adjustments and keeping my attention on myself," Zhang said.
Zhang said she would have preferred more difficult problems that offered greater opportunities to separate the competitors.
"The first two problems were not challenging enough for me and my teammates. We were more eager to see problems that could create a gap and allow us to demonstrate our competitive level," she added.
In the men's speed final, Chu clocked 4.714 seconds to secure gold.
Iran's Reza Shenazandi Fard finished second in 5.362, while Kazakhstan's Damir Toktarov took bronze in 7.342.
False starts played a significant role in the men's competition. China's Long Jianguo and Japan's Ryo Omasa were both disqualified for false starts in the semifinals, while Indonesia's Tri Aditya Syahrial also missed out the podium after a false start.
"The false starts by my opponents made me more nervous. I couldn't settle my breathing while standing, so I sat down to calm myself, regulate my breathing and stay focused," Chu said.
"Technique accounts for 60 to 70 percent, while focus accounts for 30 to 40 percent. The two complement each other and neither can be missing," he added.
Chu said winning on China's National Day made the victory particularly significant.
"I feel that the strength given to me by my country helped me win this gold medal. Winning it on such a special day makes it especially meaningful to me," he said. ■
