Speed climber Sam Watson didn’t win gold, but he did set a new world record.

On August 8, at the Paris Olympics, bronze medallist Sam Watson is pictured on the podium in the men’s sport climbing speed event.

Let’s finish this story quickly in observance of speed climbing, an event where races can be completed in less than five seconds.

At the Le Bourget Climbing Venue on Thursday, American Sam Watson achieved a very uncommon Olympic feat: he broke a world record without taking home a gold medal. In the bronze medal race, Watson took 4.74 seconds to climb a 15-meter wall with grips.

Sam Watson lost the semifinal match because of a small mistake, as Wu Peng from China beat Watson by one second, finishing in 4.85 seconds as opposed to 4.93.

That’s the brutality of speed climbing, an Olympic sport that is now a stand-alone event for the first time. Instead of competing against the clock, athletes compete against each other in races that are over in the blink of an eye.

After the match, Sam Watson, 18, admitted that he had erred in the semifinals against Wu by going too close to the top of the wall.

Here, a lot is highly relative.

Once more, Sam Watson is the quickest man in this sport; during Tuesday’s preliminary heats, he set a world record of 4.75 seconds. He did not, however, occupy the top spot on the podium. How is he coping with the contradictory feelings and accomplishments?

“I’m not really sure,” Sam Watson responded. “I haven’t really dealt with it directly. All of that things, in my opinion, is external rather than inward. I think I know who I am, and no matter how well I do, that doesn’t really alter. However, I hope that the perception that others have of me is favorable and that I am a good ambassador for my nation, my sport, and myself.

Watson didn’t seem overjoyed when he beat his own world record in the bronze medal competition. But Watson took some time to process the event.

For one more millisecond, let’s celebrate speed ascending. Typically, the races are extremely tight. In the quarterfinals, Wu overcame Italy’s Matteo Zurloni with a time difference of 4.995 seconds to 4.997 seconds. It took twenty minutes to begin the quarterfinals of the gold medal race.

How quickly is Sam Watson able to move? He declared, “I really want to get under 4.6 seconds.” “To me, that means a lot.”

Record word time: 4.74 seconds. 474 words in all. But regrettably, neither of us received gold medals.

In speed climbing, technically, the fastest Olympian just won bronze.

You might possibly claim to be the quickest Olympian ever if you are the world record holder in the fastest Olympic sport.

If so, Team USA speed climber Sam Watson is the rightful owner of that title.

That does not, however, guarantee that you will win the medal race.

In the final of the men’s sport climbing speed event on Thursday at Le Bourget, northeast of Paris, Indonesian athlete Veddriq Leonardo beat the clock by scaling the climbing wall and hitting the buzzer first.

He beat China’s Peng Wu, who earned silver with a time of 4.77 seconds, with a time of 4.75 seconds, which was.01 slower than Watson’s just set world record.

In addition to being the first Indonesian to win an Olympic gold medal in a sport other than badminton, Leonardo also made history at the Paris Games.

He remarked, “I feel so amazing and thankful for the competition today.” “I fulfilled my dream.”

Sam Watson was unhappy because he had broken a few world records this week.

“Obviously I wanted the gold, I wanted to be on the top of the podium, but a couple of millimeters went wrong on my second race and that’s just how it is sometimes,” he remarked after taking home the third place. Wu and Leonardo deserve congratulations, and I’m really optimistic about the future of speed climbing.

During the World Cup in China earlier this year, the 18-year-old from Texas set a new world record of 4.79. Then, Leonardo equaled his 4.79 score on Tuesday at the Olympics in Paris. Watson broke the world mark with a time of 4.75 seconds in the elimination heats, going even faster by.04 seconds.

However, he was defeated 4.93–4.85.85 by Chinese climber Peng Wu in the semifinals. The defeat spurred him on, and Watson broke the previous world record in the bronze medal race, clocking 4.74 seconds.

Sport climbing is a relatively new addition to the Olympics. Unlike previous years, when there was just one medal awarded for the trifecta, sport climbing now has two sets of medals: one for the lead and bouldering event and one for the speed event.

Consolidating all disciplines into a single medal event was a contentious choice, particularly among climbers who consider speed to be less creative and technically demanding than “real” rock climbing.

Climbers who are leading attempt to ascend a higher wall as far as they can. Bouldering is about tackling technical problems on shorter routes.

In addition to seeing who can “Spider-man” their way to the top of the wall the quickest, the main goal of speed climbing is outpacing your opponent in a two-person race up the wall, which is 15 meters (49.2 feet) high.