AMARILLO, Texas (KAMR/KCIT) — Sam Watson started climbing at an early age, something he says was sometimes dangerous thinking “oh, there’s something high that I can get to the top of.” On his fifth birthday, he started going to the climbing gym.
Watson, a Texas native, is leaving the Paris Olympics with a Bronze medal, and a new world record in Speed Climbing. He actually broke the record twice during the games, first in an elimination heat with a climb of 4.75 seconds, and then again in the semifinals with 4.74. Watson also held the previous world record of 4.79, which he set back in April.
The Olympic games has two categories of competition for both men and women, those are Boulder & Lead and then Speed, when asked why speed climbing was his specialty, Watson said “there’s so many things about it that I really love, but to be honest, I think the training process of getting better at it is really appealing to me personally.”
Watson was able to qualify for the Paris games early by winning the Pan American Games in Chile back in October 2023, he says the extra time “to really plan out how exactly I want to feel” saying he was confident with his training and preparations that got him to Paris this summer.
When asked what’s next after the Olympics, Watson told the Associated Press he will “take a little break, maybe go on a little vacation after trying so hard in Paris”.