Climbing: Indonesia's Leonardo wins Olympic speed climbing gold as Watson sets world record

Veddriq Leonardo struck gold in the inaugural men's speed climbing event on Thursday to give Indonesia their first Olympic title in a sport other than badminton at the Paris Games.

AFP , Thursday 8 Aug 2024,

Leonardo
Indonesia's Veddriq Leonardo reacts after winning the men's sport climbing speed final during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Le Bourget Sport Climbing Venue in Le Bourget . AFP

 

The 27-year-old defeated China's Wu Peng by just two hundredths of a second, scaling the 15-metre wall at the Le Bourget venue in 4.75 seconds.

However American teenager Sam Watson set a new world record in the battle for bronze.

Watson, 18, had lost to Wu in the semi-finals but came back with a spectacular time of 4.74 seconds to finish third.

Watson lowered his own world record for the fourth time this year. Leonardo had been the first man to break the five-second barrier in April 2023.

Integrated into a combination of speed, bouldering and lead in the Tokyo Olympics, speed is a discipline in its own right in Paris for the first time.

For the Paris Games, organisers decided to separate out the speed element, the most spectacular of the climbing disciplines.

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