American Sam Watson (L) and Ukrainian Yaroslav Tkach compete during men’s speed qualification seeding for sport climbing at the 2024 Summer Olympics on Tuesday at Le Bourget Sport Climbing Venue in Le Bourget, France. Photo by Daniel Irungu/EPA-EFE
Aug. 6 (UPI) — American Sam Watson set a world record with a 4.75-second run in men’s speed sport climbing qualifications Tuesday in Le Bourget, France. He now qualified for the men’s speed quarterfinals at the Paris Olympics.
Watson delivered the epic climb at the Le Bourget Sport Climbing Venue. The 18-year-old Southlake, Texas, native also held the previous record (4.79), which was matched by Indonesia’s Veddriq Leonardo in the seeding round.
Watson then bested that mark, scaling the 49-foot wall with a 5-degree incline in record pace.
Veddriq, Amir Maimuratov of Kazakhstan, Matteo Zurolini of Italy, Wu Peng of China, Reza Alipour Shenazandifard or Iran, Julian David of New Zealand and Bassa Mawem of France were among other speed qualifiers.
Watson will face David in the first quarterfinal Thursday in Le Bourget. The winner will battle Zurloni or Wu for a spot in the big final.
Alberto Gines Lopez of Spain won the men’s combined sport climbing gold medal at Tokyo 2020, the first time the sport was included in the Olympics. Slovenia’s Janja Garnbret won the women’s combined gold medal.
This year, combined and speed medals will be given out in sport climbing. The combined format includes boulder and lead disciplines.
American Emma Hunt, Aleksandra Miroslaw of Poland, Aleksandra Kalucka of Poland, Zhou Yafei of China, Deng Lijuan of China, Desak made Rita Kusuma Dewi of Indonesia, Rajiah Sallsabillah of Indonesia and Lesli Adriana Romero Perez of Spain qualified Monday in women’s speed sport climbing.
