South Korean sport climbing sensation Seo Chae-hyun (20, The North Face-Seoul City Hall) will look to bounce back from her disappointment at the Tokyo Olympics two years ago to claim her first gold medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games.

Seo was one of the favorites to win the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

As the youngest athlete to compete in the Women’s Combined, she raised hopes of a medal with a second-place finish in the preliminary round, but fell short in the final with an eighth-place finish. The disappointment was especially acute in her main event, the Lead, as her qualifying performance was first, and she was in tears.

However, her heartbreak in Tokyo made her stronger. As she continues to grow and gain experience on the big stage, Seo is confident of winning gold at the upcoming Hangzhou Asian Games.

Sport climbing has been an official part of the Asian Games since Jakarta-Palembang 2018, with a total of six gold medals up for grabs for both men and women in three events: speed individual, speed team (relay) and combine (lead and boulder).

At the Palembang Games in Jakarta, Speed was included in the Combined event, but the good news for Seo is that from Hangzhou, the Combined event will consist of Lead and Bouldering.

There are three main types of sport climbing.

Bouldering is a sport in which participants attempt to traverse various artificial structures on a 4.5-meter-high rock wall without a rope in less than four minutes. The lead is a safety harness and a man-made structure on a 15-meter-high rock wall, and the goal is to see how high you can climb in six minutes.

Speed is a competition to see who can climb a 15-meter-high artificial rock wall the fastest while wearing a safety rope.

As a lead athlete, Seo is confident that by focusing on improving her bouldering skills, she will do well at the Combine.

Seo will be competing against Ai Mori (20-JP), who won gold in the lead and bronze in the combined at this year’s World Championships. They are the same age and have similar strengths in the lead.

The two have grown up competing together since childhood, which makes Seo even more competitive.

She will also be competing at her first Asian Games with her father, 50-year-old sports climbing coach Seo Jong-guk, who is also competing. The father-daughter duo have been working together since Seo took over as head coach at the end of 2021.

At the Palembang-Jakarta Games five years ago, Korean climbing was represented by Kim Jain and Sasol (above) in the women’s event and Chun Jong-won in the men’s. Chun won gold in the men’s combined, Sasol won silver in the women’s combined, and Kim won bronze.

This time around, Seo Chae-hyun in the combine and Lee Do-hyun (20-Blackyak) in the men’s event are the favorites to win gold 토토사이트.

Seo, who has improved steadily since the Tokyo Olympics, isn’t too nervous about being labeled a favorite.

“I have high hopes (for gold). I don’t have a lot of pressure,” he said, adding, “Once I’ve experienced the Olympic stage once, I’ve been able to grow as a skier.” He hopes to go for gold.