Heading into the men’s Speed finals, the buzz was all about Team USA’s Sam Watson—and rightly so. Watson, 18, had set a world record of 4.75 seconds in the seeding and elimination round on August 6, and he was positioned at the top of the field of eight finalists.
Yet, given such command from Watson, it was easy to overlook the accomplishments of the other finalists. Indonesia’s Veddriq Leonardo, for example, had clocked a new Olympic record during the seeding round (which Watson promptly broke); China’s Peng Wu had clocked times consistently—and comfortably—hovering around the 5-flat mark in that same round; and Iran’s Reza Alipour had managed to stay in the mix and earn a place in the finals as the “lucky loser” of the elimination round.
If the Speed fan base needed any reminder of the great parity among all the finalists, it came in the first race of the finals, which was a closer-than-expected sprint between Watson and New Zealand’s Julian David. Watson earned the win, but his time—5.03 seconds—was slightly slower than the times we’re used to seeing from him. Watson managed to post a faster time (4.93 seconds) in his next race, against China’s Peng Wu, but it was Wu who earned a surprising victory by clocking a lifetime best time of 4.85 seconds. Even more surprising was how Wu did it, making up substantial ground in the upper half of the route to ultimately overtake Watson.
Shortly after that barn-burner, Reza Alipour shocked the world by running a time of 4.84 seconds—absolutely smashing his personal best time, going “sub-5” for the first time in his storied career. Unfortunately for Alipour, his opponent, Veddriq Leonardo, also set a personal best time, clocking a victorious 4.78 seconds—1/100th of a second better this Tuesday time and a new Asian Continental record.
Ass that drama built to a climactic race between Indonesia’s Leonardo and China’s Wu for the gold medal. Wu blasted off the starting pad quicker, and he held a slight lead in the route’s lower section. But Leonardo made up ground in a stunning display of efficiency. Both competitors leapt at approximately the same time for the concluding dyno—and the world waited in oh-so-brief anticipation—but Leonardo was the first to hit the top sensor. He won gold with a time of 4.75 seconds—matching Watson’s Tuesday World record. Wu’s time, 4.77 seconds, was a personal best and worthy of the silver medal.
But there was one more surprise of the day. In the race for Brozen, Watson vs. Alipour, both competitors had clean runs, but Watson—who doesn’t like to share records—was victorious with a time of 4.74 seconds, establishing yet another world record.
Coupled with the excitement of yesterday’s women’s Speed final, all the aforementioned happenings in the men’s final created an ideal mix of performative excellence, personal bests, new records, and good sportsmanship. It’s hard to envision Speed, on the whole, having a better Olympics debut as an individual discipline than it did in Paris.
The post Career Bests and New World Records in a Spectacular Men’s Speed Final appeared first on Climbing.
