American Climber Sam Watson Breaks Speed Record, Misses Olympic Gold

At the Paris Games on Thursday, sport climbing posed an Olympic conundrum .

18-year-old-American Sam Watson set a new world record for men’s speed climbing, completing a 49-foot route in 4.74 seconds.

Shortly after, he also won an Olympic bronze medal, in addition to his current title of “Fastest Climber in the World.”

It was a teaching moment for anyone unfamiliar with speed climbing, which was featured as a separate medal event for the first time in this sport climbing competition. In the sport, Watson and other climbers use 20 hand holds and 11 foot holds to pull and propel themselves up a 49-foot wall.

Sport climbing seed lists and world records are determined by era. But medalists and winners in elite competitions are decided in head-to-head races. It’s a blurry image, because the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals are completed in about 20 minutes.

In his semifinal run on Thursday, Watson slipped away from victory. He finished the race in 4.93 seconds, but lost to China’s Peng Wu, who advanced to the final in 4.85 seconds.

Relegated to bronze, Watson improved on his own world record of 4.75 seconds by 1/100th of a second. He set the previous world record of 4.75 in the qualifying heat.

Immediately afterwards, in the final, Indonesia’s Bedric beat Leonard Chen in a new personal best of 4.75 seconds – good enough for Olympic gold but 1/100th slower than Watson’s world record.

Sam Watson explains what happened

There were no complaints from Watson about the format used to determine the medal winners. If anything, his “tiny little stumble” in the semi-final seemed to underscore the true nature of the sport.

“Just a couple of millimeters of an error is the name of the game in this sport,’’ Watson said. “No real regrets. I don’t think the pressure got to me or anything like that.’’

The stumble probably cost him two tenths of a second, which was enough to make the difference in his head-to-head showdown with China’s Wu.

Next up is Watson, who said he wanted to improve the world record to 4.6 seconds. He is the current world record holder, but with an Olympic bronze medal instead of gold, but he didn’t seem worried.

“I think all of that stuff is external rather than internal,’’ he said. “I had a view of who I am in my mind, and that doesn’t really change related to my performance.’’