Jongwon, 27, who won the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) World Cup bouldering title in 2015 and 2017, said he was "full of confidence" after getting through the nervy opening World Cup at Hachioji in Japan.

"The first World Cup of the season I am always so nervous," said Jongwon, who will be one of 169 athletes due to compete in the boulder event at the Jungnang Sport Climbing Stadium at Yongma Waterfall Park in a competition that will start tomorrow and conclude on April 30.

"My goal in every competition is to make finals, which I did in Japan, but I was very nervous, and I don’t know why," he told IFSC.

"I feel ready now to compete in Seoul.

"I am full of confidence, and I am so ready.

"There were a few surprises in Japan.

"There were some strong guys who didn’t even make semi-finals.

"That goes to show the strength of the competition now.

"We have a new generation of young climbers and us old guys need to train even harder to keep up."

Hachioji men’s winner Mejdi Schalck will seek to maintain his winning momentum, as, in the women’s event, will Brooke Rabatou of the United States, who earned a first World Cup win in Japan.

Rabatou’s fellow American Natalia Grossman won five Boulder World Cup events in 2022, one of them in Seoul, but in Hachioji she missed out on finals.

She will be looking to get back on track and has the opportunity to do so quickly with two World Cups so close together.

In the men’s boulder in Hachioji there were two French medals with Schalck and teammate Paul Jenft picking up gold and bronze respectively.

In an Olympic qualification year, they will be looking to continue building throughout the season with a home Games on the horizon.

Making history in Hachioji was Belgium’s Hannes Van Duysen who claimed the first-ever World Cup medal, in any of the disciplines, for his country.

With only a week turnaround in competition the Belgian climber will hope he can use the adrenaline and excitement to take another medal and double his, and the country’s, tally.

While the boulder athletes are already off and climbing in the World Cup, Seoul will mark the first speed event in this year’s series.

"You hear rumours and see things on social media that people are climbing fast," Jongwon said.

"I think for sure we will see a four-something this year."

Kiromal Katibin from Indonesia set a succession of world records in 2022.

Sam Watson of the United States has reportedly been sub five seconds in training.

At a recent event in Italy Matteo Zurloni posted a 5.04sec, narrowly beating fellow Italian Ludovico Fossali who tapped at 5.06.

This time last year the women’s speed record was 6.84, the time clocked twice at Tokyo 2020 by Aleksandra Miroslaw.

Since then, the Polish climber has lowered the record twice so it now stands at 6.53, and there are high expectations for her to lower it for a third time, especially with an unofficial world record of 6.39 set at the recent Polish Championships.

Polish sisters Aleksandra and Natalia Kalucka, will once again push for the podium.

Emma Hunt of the United States took silver in Seoul last year and is looking to upgrade to gold this year, plus a strong contingent from China are due to participate.

The IFSC World Cup in Seoul begins with speed qualification tomorrow, before the men's and women’s finals later in the day.