Sam Watson Sets New World Record in Speed Climbing, But Falls Short of Gold

To celebrate speed climbing, an event where races can be completed in under 5 seconds, let’s get this story out quickly.

American Sam Watson achieved a unique Olympic feat on Thursday at the Le Bourget Climbing Venue: he set a new world record without winning gold. Watson scaled the top of a 15-meter wall with holds in 4.74 seconds, but this occurred during the bronze-medal race. In the semifinals, moments before, a small error cost Watson, as Wu Peng of China pressed the buzzer at the top first, in 4.85 seconds, compared to Watson’s 4.93 seconds. Indonesia’s Veddriq Leonardo beat Wu in a thrilling final, 4.75 seconds to Wu’s 4.77 seconds, securing Indonesia’s first gold medal at the Paris Games.

This is the unforgiving nature of speed climbing, which is a standalone event at the Olympic Games for the first time. Athletes compete head-to-head against each other, not against the clock, in contests that end in a blink of an eye.

Watson, 18, said afterward that he made his mistake in the semifinal against Wu near the top of the wall. “Just a few little millimeters off a certain hold allowed me to get less power out of it and slow down a lot,” said Watson. 

A lot is a relative term here.

Watson is the fastest man in this sport, again—he set a world record of 4.75 seconds on Tuesday, in the preliminary heats. Yet, he did not stand at the top of the podium. How is he coping with these conflicting achievements and emotions?

“I don’t really know,” said Watson. “I haven’t really gone through it. I think all that kind of stuff is external rather than internal. I have a view of who I am in my mind and that doesn’t really change regardless of my performance. But other people will view me in certain ways and I hope that way is positive and a good representation of myself and my sport and my country.”  

Watson didn’t express much joy immediately after breaking his own world record in the bronze-medal race. However, minutes later, Watson allowed himself to appreciate the moment. “I smiled,” he said. “The organizers, major shout-out to them, I asked them to do a photo, with the world record.”

Another shout-out, for a millisecond, to speed climbing. The races are typically very, very close: Wu, for example, defeated Matteo Zurloni of Italy in the quarterfinals, 4.995 seconds to 4.997 seconds. The start of the quarterfinals through the gold-medal race took 20 minutes. 

How fast can Watson go? “I really do want to get under 4.6 seconds,” he said. “That really means a lot to me.” 

World record: 4.74 seconds. Word count: 474. But no gold medals, sadly, for either of us.