American sport climber Sam Watson leaves Paris Olympics with world record and a bronze medal

LE BOURGET, France (AP) — Sam Watson leaves the Paris Games with another world record in speed sport climbing but without the Olympic gold medal.

The American broke the speed world record on Thursday for the second time at the 2024 Paris Olympics, but the feat came in the fight for the bronze after he was eliminated in the semifinals.

The 18-year-old Watson, the heavy favorite for the gold, lost to Wu Peng of China in the semifinals before setting a record of 4.74 seconds in the third-place heat. Leonardo Veddriq of Indonesia won the gold with a time of 4.75 in the final. Wu ended with 4.77.

“I was just flying and doing my thing. I think nothing really changed between any of my laps,” Watson said. “Just a couple millimeters of an error is really the name of the game in the sport. So no really regrets. I don’t think the pressure really got to me or anything like that. I think I just made a tiny little stumble.”

Watson first broke the record with a time of 4.75 in an elimination heat two days ago. He had held the previous world record of 4.79 since April.

Watson said the world record meant “a lot” and was “a big accomplishment,” but it hadn’t sunk in yet what it meant to go home with the record but not the gold medal.

“I haven’t really gone through it,” he said. “I think all that kind of stuff is external rather than internal. I have a view of who I am in my mind, and that doesn’t really change regardless of my performance. But other people will view me in certain ways, and I hope that way as positive and a good representation of myself, my sport and my country.”

Watson said he will “take a little break, maybe go on a little vacation after trying so hard” in Paris.

But only after finishing the Olympic Village muffin that he had been praising on his social media accounts since arriving in Paris.

“That was the first thing I was doing, is I would get my chocolate muffin that I brought from the village and eat it right after, regardless of what happened,” he said.

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