Indonesia's Veddriq Leonardo wins men's speed inaugural gold. GETTY IMAGES

Indonesia’s Veddriq Leonardo won the inaugural men’s speed gold in sport climbing at Paris 2024 with a personal best of 4.75. Wu Peng took the silver for China, clocking in at 4.77. 

USA’s Sam Watson rounded out the podium with a bronze, despite setting a new world record at an astonishing 4.74 seconds. It was the fourth time this year that the 18-year-old American has broken the men's speed world record, and the second time at the Paris Olympics — clocking in at 4.75 seconds during the elimination heat.

Watson faced Reza Alipour of Iran in the small final, with Alipour losing out on a podium finish with a 4.88. 



Leonardo performed well in the quarter-finals, clocking in at 4.88 —well ahead of his contender, France’s Bassa Mawem who finished with a 5.26. The three-time World Cup champion is Indonesia’s first Olympic gold medallist in an event outside badminton.

There were high hopes for Wu, who had one of the fastest qualifying times in the Olympic Qualifier Series in Shanghai. But the world-class competition at Le Bourget saw the top Chinese contender settling for a second-place finish. 

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.

Indonesia had hoped to medal in speed climbing at the Paris Olympics and Veddriq Leonardo made that dream come true. GETTY IMAGES
Indonesia had hoped to medal in speed climbing at the Paris Olympics and Veddriq Leonardo made that dream come true. GETTY IMAGES

Women's lead semifinals

Earlier in the day, the women’s lead semifinals concluded with Slovenia’s Janja Garnbret topping the table with 195.7 points. 

She took to the stage with a very warm welcome from the crowd and started her climb well. However, she ended up poised for the dyno to the finishing jug which she touches but didn’t hold —dropping 4.3 points in the process. 

Jessica Pilz is through to finals in second place. The Austrian was conservative, resting when necessary to reserve her strength for the overhang and dyno to come. After managing the overhang, which many a climber before her had fallen victim to, she pushed to the top only to grab the void in her attempt at the finishing hold. 

USA’s Brooke Raboutou finished third in the semis, holding a steady rhythm without stopping —even at the steepest sections of the wall. Joining her in the finals Saturday is France’s own Oriane Bertone. As will Chaehyun Seo, Erin McNeice, Oceania Mackenzie and Ai Mori. 

Sport climbing’s women’s lead finals will be on 10 August at 12:35 CEST.