Technically, the fastest Olympian just took bronze in speed climbing

By Emma Bowman

Published August 8, 2024 at 9:33 AM EDT

Gold medalist Indonesia's Veddriq Leonardo (center), silver medallst China's Wu Peng (left) and bronze medalist UsA's Sam Watson (right) pose on the podium of the men's sport climbing speed event during the Paris Olympics at the Le Bourget Sport Climbing Venue northeast of Paris.

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LE BOURGET, France — If you hold the world record in the fastest Olympic sport you can technically call yourself the fastest-ever Olympian, right?

If so, that title belongs to Team USA speed climber Sam Watson.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean you win the medal race.

It was Veddriq Leonardo of Indonesia who scaled the climbing wall and slapped the buzzer the quickest to win gold in the men’s sport climbing speed event final Thursday in Le Bourget, northeast of Paris.

His time was 4.75 seconds (.01 slower than Watson’s brand-new world record), besting China’s Peng Wu, who took silver after posting 4.77 seconds.

It was an upset to Watson, who set a couple world records this week. Earlier this year, the 18-year-old from Texas set a new world record of 4.79 at the World Cup in China.

Then, on Tuesday at the Paris Olympics, Leonardo matched his 4.79 mark. Moments later, in the elimination heats, Watson went even faster — by .04 seconds — to set a world record of 4.75 seconds.

In the semifinal, though, he lost to Chinese climber Peng Wu, 4.93-4.85. The loss fueled him: In the bronze medal race, Watson set another world record of 4.74 seconds.

In sport climbing — a newish addition to the Olympics — two sets of medals are given out: one for the lead and bouldering event and one for the speed event, a change from sport climbing’s inaugural Olympics at the Tokyo Games in 2021, when one medal was awarded for the trifecta.

Sam Watson of Team USA poses with his bronze medal alongside a screen with his world record time of "4.74" seconds during the Sport Climbing medal ceremony at the Paris Summer Olympics 2024 in Le Bourget, France.

The decision to combine all disciplines into a single medal event was a controversial one, especially to climbers who don’t view speed as “real” rock climbing because they say it requires less technique and creativity.

In lead, climbers try to get as far up a higher wall as possible. Bouldering is about problem solving shorter, technical routes.

Speed climbing is about who can "Spider-man" climb to the top of the wall the fastest, but — more importantly — it’s about beating the other climber in the two-person race up the 15-meter-high wall (49.2 feet).