Tomoa Narasaki notched the best score in lead qualifying at the IFSC Climbing World Championships with 2.55 ©Getty Images

The penultimate day of the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) Climbing World Championship in Moscow saw qualification held in the lead discipline, with Tomoa Narasaki of Japan and Seo Chae-hyun of South Korea on top form.

The reigning men's combined world champion Narasaki recorded the best score in qualifying with 2.55 to make sure he advanced to tomorrow's final day.

Britain's Hamish McArthur was second with 3.32, while Japan's Kokoro Fujii, fresh from winning the boulder title earlier in the week, recorded 4.36 to place third.

Jakob Schubert of Austria, the lead bronze medallist at the last edition of the World Championships in Hachioji in Japan, was fourth with 4.69, while Yoshiyuki Ogata made it a successful day for Japanese climbers in qualification as he scored 4.87.

South Korea's Hyunbin Min recorded a score of 5.29, while Sascha Lehmann of Germany recorded 6.16.

Defending champion Seo Chae-hyun scored 1.73 in qualifying ©Getty Images
Defending champion Seo Chae-hyun scored 1.73 in qualifying ©Getty Images

The women's qualification saw the reigning champion Seo top score with 1.73.

Fresh from securing the bouldering title in Moscow, the United States' Natalia Grossman safely progressed with 2.45, a score matched by Laura Rogora of Italy.

Lučka Rakovec of Slovenia notched 4.8, while American Brooke Raboutou recorded 5.48.

Another Slovenian in Vita Lukan was sixth with 6.16, while Dinara Fakhritdinova was the best performer for the Climbing Federation of Russia (CFR) with 7.55.

Tomorrow morning sees the semi-finals take place in the men's and women's lead competitions, before the championships draw to a close with the men's lead final followed by the women's lead final.