PARIS, France — Team USA’s Sam Watson beat his own speed rock climbing world record at the Paris Olympics to advance to the quarterfinals.
Watson posted a time of 4.75 seconds in an elimination race heat, beating the world record of 4.79 seconds he set in April at the IFSC Climbing World Cup.
He defeated teammate Zach Hammer with the victory, creating a bittersweet feeling for the medal hopeful.
“It sucks, there’s no better way to put that,” Watson told the Associated Press. “I love him, he’s like a brother to me. We’ve trained so much together. It means so much to be on the stage with him, regardless of how that ends up.”
Watson is the No. 3 ranked speed climber in the world. He will face New Zealand’s Julian David in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
Speed sport climbing is being offered at the Olympics for the first time during the Paris Games. Two climbers compete in each race to reach the top of a 15-meter wall the fastest. The three disciplines of sport climbing, speed, bouldering, and lead, are offered in a combined event that began at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The United States has one climber, Emma Hunt, in the women’s speed climbing quarterfinals.
Team USA has one medal in sport climbing – Nathaniel Coleman won a silver medal in the men’s combined climbing event at the Tokyo Games.
