Feature: Powering through pain, Pan Yufei rises to peak

by sportswriters Wang Meng and Wang Qin'ou

BEIJING, June 20 (Xinhua) -- With aching arms, a sore back, and barely any strength left in his legs, Chinese climber Pan Yufei hauled himself onto the final wall of the men's bouldering final at the 2025 Climbing World Cup in Bern, Switzerland, last Sunday.

He had already fallen once. There were less than 30 seconds on the clock. Then he launched himself again.

"My vision was starting to go black," Pan recounted. "Every move was a struggle. I could barely lift my left leg. But I kept telling myself one thing: enjoy it."

He topped the last boulder on his second attempt, then pressed his head against the finishing hold before dropping to the mat, arms outstretched and fists raised overhead.

"I was lying there with my whole body in pain," he said. "But my fists were still up. That was my willpower still standing."

Pan edged French climber Mejdi Schalck by 0.1 point, holding off Japan's Olympic silver medalist Sorato Anraku. It marked China's first-ever bouldering gold at a World Cup. It was only Pan's second career appearance in a boulder final - his first came just one week earlier in Prague, where he placed fifth.

"I didn't expect anything," he said. "That might be why I was able to enjoy myself so much. I wasn't thinking about scores. I just climbed."

FINDING HIS FEET, THEN LOSING THEM

Born in Guangzhou, Pan began climbing at age eight. He had been training in taekwondo, but one day a friend invited him to try the climbing wall next door. The experience changed everything.

"I liked all kinds of sports," he said in a 2018 interview before the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires. "But climbing was different. It was like talking to yourself. You are not fighting other people. You are trying to understand yourself."

He rose quickly. In 2017, he won bronze in lead at the World Cup in Xiamen. In 2019, he claimed silver in Villars, Switzerland. Two years later, he became the first Chinese male climber to qualify for the Olympic Games, finishing 14th in Tokyo in the combined format during sport climbing's Olympic debut.

But after that, momentum faded. From 2021 to 2023, Pan failed to make any finals on the World Cup circuit. His results dropped into the 40s, 50s, and sometimes lower.

"Since the Tokyo Olympic Games, I'd felt that I was getting heavier and heavier," he wrote in a social media post after his Bern victory. "It is a sport that is overcoming gravity all the time, but I felt more and more difficult to lift my legs, and even gradually lost the courage to raise my hands."

He described those years as a mental freefall. "There were more and more doubts, and my constant criticism of myself was getting louder and louder. I have thought about giving up countless times. I don't know what I want to do. I don't have anything I want to do, even watching TV and playing games. A small mistake in life will make me hate myself even more," he continued, revealing struggles with eating disorders and insomnia.

Even qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics failed to restore his confidence. "What I thought was that I got another thing that I didn't deserve. I felt I was just lucky," he confessed.

CLIMBING FOR HIMSELF AGAIN

In 2023, Pan made a difficult but defining choice: he left China to train alone in Europe.

"It was the first time I had to decide everything by myself," he reflected. "Where to go, who to train with, how to plan everything. I had to deal with visas, bookings, finding training walls. Sometimes I felt more like a manager than an athlete."

He trained with international climbers, shared route-setters before competitions, and often handled his own logistics. He even missed events due to visa issues. But the experience changed him in ways that went beyond sport.

"I changed a lot that year," he said. "There were many frustrating moments, but I became more patient. I am really grateful I had that chance. Even if I do something else in the future, the experience of that year will help me."

When Pan returned to the World Cup circuit in 2025, he was still carrying injuries. He had torn both forearms one week before the Prague leg, where he made his first final. In Bern, he arrived determined to let go of the pressure.

"Maybe it was a kind of rebound," he said. "I had thought too much, gotten tired of overthinking. I just told myself: forget all that. Just climb. Just feel it."

In the Bern final, Pan aggravated a lingering back injury during the second problem. By the fourth, he could barely lift his leg. But he kept going.

"That last route was within my ability," he acknowledged. "But I had to rely on willpower. I might not have the strongest attributes, but I think I'm the hardest to kill."

He said he never tracked rankings nor heard the clock during the final attempt. "I was totally immersed," he recalled. "One of the tops came at the last second, but I didn't even know time was running out."

STAYING GROUNDED AFTER THE BREAKTHROUGH

Pan's win brought more than personal redemption. Together with climbers like Zhang Yuetong and Luo Zhilu, he is helping to build China's presence in a sport long dominated by Europe and Japan, especially in the technical bouldering and lead disciplines.

Friend and route-setter Cai Luyuan said Pan's path has always been lonely. "He had no one to chase," Cai noted. "He had to lead and build at the same time. That is not easy."

Even after making history, Pan resisted framing himself as a star. "I've never thought of myself as particularly talented," he admitted. "I was just a little better this time. Others will be better next time. I just want to do my job well."

Though often described as a pioneer in Chinese climbing, Pan humbly deflected. "There are so many seniors who worked so hard to build the road for us," he said. "I've never felt like I was really ahead. I just try to do my part. If I can inspire someone, I'm honored."

After the final, the crowd in Bern gave him a loud ovation. "It was moving," Pan said. "To just be myself and be supported like that, it reminded me that being real is enough."

Looking back on his long journey, Pan said he no longer fears failure. "Losing is not scary," he said. "Being afraid is."

As he approaches his 25th birthday, Pan is no longer chasing perfection. "There are so many people blessed with extraordinary talent, so many who shine overnight. Geniuses are everywhere and I am just an ordinary speck of dust. But what comforts me most is not achieving these results, but that along the way, before becoming a decent athlete, I first became a better version of myself."

When asked what the sport means to him now, he still finds strength in the same truth that pulled him up that first wall years ago: "Looking back, perhaps this is also one of the true meanings and charms of this sport. When I had lost myself and sat on the ground and looked at the wall in confusion, I still raised my head and looked up all the time." ■