Sam Watson (climber)

Last updated

Samuel Watson
Personal information
Born (2006-02-27) February 27, 2006 (age 18)
Southlake, Texas, U.S.
Education University of Utah
OccupationProfessional climber
Years active2021–present
Height180 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Climbing career
Type of climber Speed climbing
Sport
Coached byAlbert Ok
Medal record
Men's competition climbing
Representing the Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States
Olympics
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2024 Paris Speed
World Cup
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2022 Edinburgh Speed
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2024 Salt Lake City Speed
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2024 Chamonix Speed
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2024 Wujiang Speed
Pan American Games
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2023 Santiago Speed

Samuel Watson (born February 27, 2006) [1] is an American professional rock climber who specializes in competition speed climbing and represents the United States at IFSC Climbing World Cups. He holds the world record for the discipline at 4.74 seconds, accomplished at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France, where he took a bronze medal. [2]

Contents

Career

In 2021 Watson won a silver medal at the Youth B category of the IFSC Climbing World Youth Championships in Voronezh, Russia. In 2022 he won a gold medal at the Edinburgh, Scotland IFSC Climbing World Cup, in speed, and became the youngest climber to do so. [3] [4] [5] [6] Also in 2022, Watson won, a bronze medal at the Youth A category of the IFSC Climbing World Youth Championships in Dallas, Texas, and won first in the US National Speed Climbing Championship. [7]

In 2023, Watson set a US and Pan American speed climbing records at 5.02 seconds, [8] [9] at the 2023 IFSC Climbing World Cup in Seoul, Korea. [10] At the Pan American Games that year, he won the gold medal and qualified in speed climbing for the 2024 Summer Olympics. [11]

In the leadup to the Olympics, he set a world record for the discipline at 4.798 seconds, accomplished in the 2024 IFSC Climbing World Cup in Wujiang. [12] At the Olympics, he lost to Wu Peng in the semifinal round, and took the bronze medal in the small final. Along the way, he broke his own world record twice. He set the current world record of 4.74 seconds in the small final, climbing against Reza Alipour. [13]

Watson is originally from Texas, [7] and resides in Millcreek, Utah. [3] [14]

Major results

Olympic Games

Discipline 2024
Speed3

World championships

Discipline 2023
Speed71

World Cup

Discipline 2022 2023 2024
Speed531

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Speed climbing</span> Type of climbing

Speed climbing is a climbing discipline in which speed is the ultimate goal. Speed climbing is done on rocks, walls and poles and is only recommended for highly skilled and experienced climbers.

USA Climbing is the national governing body of the sport of competition climbing in the United States. As a 501(c)3 non-profit, they promote Sport Climbing which comprises three competition disciplines: bouldering, lead climbing, and speed climbing, in elite, youth and collegiate formats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shauna Coxsey</span> English rock climber

Shauna Coxsey is an English professional rock climber. She is the most successful competition climber in the UK, having won the IFSC Bouldering World Cup Season in both 2016 and 2017. She retired from competition after competing in the 2020 Olympics., and continues to climb at a high level outdoors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dmitrii Sharafutdinov</span> Russian rock climber (born 1986)

Dmitri Sarafutdinov, also known as Dmitrii Sharafutdinov, is a professional Russian rock climber and competition climber who specializes in competition bouldering. He has won three World Championships, in 2007, 2011 and 2012 and one Bouldering World Cup in 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reza Alipour</span> Iranian speed climber from Qazvin

Reza Alipour Shenazandifard is an Iranian competition speed climber from Qazvin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jakob Schubert</span> Austrian rock climber

Jakob Schubert is an Austrian professional rock climber, specializing in competition climbing, sport climbing, and bouldering. He is a four-time World Champion and three-time World Cup winner in lead climbing. He is a two-time Olympic bronze medalist in the combined event.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jessica Pilz</span> Austrian rock climber (born 1996)

Jessica Pilz is an Austrian professional rock climber who specializes in competition climbing. She won the bronze medal in the combined bouldering and lead climbing event at the 2024 Summer Olympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tomoa Narasaki</span> Japanese rock climber (born 1996)

Tomoa Narasaki is a Japanese professional rock climber who specializes in bouldering and competition bouldering.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miho Nonaka</span> Japanese rock climber (born 1997)

Miho Nonaka is a Japanese competition climber who specializes in competition bouldering. She is an Olympic silver medalist in sport climbing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aleksandra Mirosław</span> Polish speed climber (born 1994)

Aleksandra (Ola) Mirosław is a Polish soldier and competition speed climber. She is a two-time women's speed world champion as well as the current women's competition speed climbing world record holder. Mirosław won the gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in the speed climbing event, becoming the first ever Olympic champion in this event.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ai Mori</span> Japanese rock climber (born 2003)

Ai Mori is a Japanese professional rock climber who specializes in competition lead climbing and competition bouldering.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natalia Grossman</span> American rock climber

Natalia Grossman is an American professional rock climber who specializes in competition climbing. She represents the United States at IFSC Climbing World Cup in competition bouldering and competition lead climbing. She has had 22 podium finishes at World Cup events, including 11 gold medals, and is the only climber to have won four consecutive overall titles in bouldering.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sean Bailey (climber)</span> American rock climber (born 1996)

Sean Bailey is an American professional rock climber, who specializes in competition climbing, sport climbing, and bouldering. He has represented the United States in the IFSC Climbing World Cup in lead climbing, and has two podium finishes in bouldering at individual legs of the World Cup, including a win at the Salt Lake City leg of the 2021 World Cup.1 and three in lead climbing, including two gold medals, at the Villars leg, and Chamonix leg, in July 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Noah Bratschi</span> American rock climber (born 2000)

Noah Bratschi is an American professional rock climber who specializes in competition speed climbing and represents the United States at IFSC Climbing World Cups. He won the bronze medal at the 2021 International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) World Championship in Moscow, Russia. With this accomplishment he became the first American speed climber to win a World Championship medal in thirty years, and with that, he also became the first American to ever win a medal on the modern IFSC homologated speed climbing wall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hamish McArthur</span> British sport climber

Hamish McArthur is an English professional rock climber and competition climber, who specialises in competition bouldering and competition lead climbing events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kiromal Katibin</span> Indonesian rock climber (born 2000)

Kiromal Katibin is an Indonesian competition climber who specializes in competition speed climbing. He was the world record holder in speed climbing, with a time of 5.009 seconds recorded at 2022 IFSC Climbing World Cup in Chamonix, France in July 2022, until it was broken by his compatriot Veddriq Leonardo in April 2023. He finished second overall in the men's speed category during the 2021 IFSC Climbing World Cup series. Katibin also has four career IFSC Climbing World Cup medals, all in speed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emma Hunt</span> American speed climber (born 2003)

Emma Hunt is an American competition climber who specializes in competition speed climbing, and holds the American women's speed record with 6.301 seconds, set at the USA Climbing North American Cup in Salt Lake City in April 2024.

Wu Peng is a Chinese competition speed climber. He represented China at the 2024 Summer Olympics and won a silver medal in the men's speed event.

Zhou Yafei is a Chinese competition speed climber. She represented China at the 2024 Summer Olympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julian David (climber)</span> New Zealand speed climber

Julian David is a competition speed climber from New Zealand. He represented New Zealand at the 2024 Summer Olympics.

References

  1. ↑ "WATSON Sam". Paris 2024 Olympics. August 3, 2024.
  2. ↑ "2024 Paris Olympics". 2024 Paris Olympics. Retrieved 2024-08-06.
  3. 1 2 "Samuel Watson". Athletes. International Federation of Sport Climbing. Retrieved 2023-06-06.
  4. ↑ McCarvel, Nick (May 18, 2023). "Speed climbing is as fast as it's ever been - and Samuel Watson has the moves to go even faster". Olympic News. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 2023-05-29.
  5. ↑ Bowker, Paul (September 12, 2022). "Samuel Watson captures World Cup climbing gold in Edinburgh". Team USA. United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 2023-05-29.
  6. ↑ Burgman, John (September 12, 2022). "Americans Golden In Lead And Speed at Edinburgh World Cup. Records Smashed. Results". Climbing.
  7. 1 2 Pardy, Aaron (November 12, 2022). "Sam Watson and Callie Close Win USA Speed Climbing National Championships". Gripped.
  8. ↑ "Speed records". USA Climbing. Retrieved 2023-06-06.
  9. ↑ "Speed records". International Federation of Sport Climbing. Retrieved 2023-06-06.
  10. ↑ "General result speed men". IFSC – Climbing World Cup (B,S) – Seoul (KOR) 2023. International Federation of Sport Climbing. Retrieved 2023-06-06.
  11. ↑ "Grossman, Grupper, and Watson Qualify for Paris 2024".
  12. ↑ "SUPER SAM LOWERS SPEED WORLD RECORD – TWICE!". IFSC. April 12, 2024. Retrieved 2024-04-12.
  13. ↑ "Team USA's Sam Watson Wins Bronze Medal In World Record Fashion". KSL Sports. August 9, 2024.
  14. ↑ "Millcreek is home to the world's fastest speed climber". eepurl.com. Retrieved 2024-08-31.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.