Samuel Watson (born February 27, 2006) 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 The 2024 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 2024), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la XXXIIIe Olympiade, links=no) and also known as Paris 2024, is an upcoming international multi-sport event that is s ...

in Paris, France, where he took a bronze medal.

Career

In 2021 Watson won a silver medal at the Youth B category of the

IFSC Climbing World Youth Championships The IFSC Climbing World Youth Championships are the annual World Youth Championships for competition climbing organized by the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC). The first competition was held in Basel, Switzerland ). Swiss ...

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. 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. In 2023, Watson set a US and Pan American speed climbing records at 5.02 seconds, at the

2023 IFSC Climbing World Cup The 2023 IFSC Climbing World Cup is the 35th edition of the international competition climbing series organized by the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC), held in 12 locations. There are 18 events: six bouldering, six lead, and ...

in Seoul, Korea. At the Pan American Games that year, he won the gold medal and qualified in speed climbing for the

. 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 The 2024 IFSC Climbing World Cup is the 36th edition of the international competition climbing series organised by the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC), held in 9 locations. There are 16 events per gender: five competition boul ...

in Wujiang. 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. Watson is originally from Texas, and resides in Millcreek, Utah.

Major results

Olympic Games

World championships

World Cup

References

External links

* 2006 births Living people American rock climbers Speed climbers Year of birth missing (living people) American competition climbers Sport climbers at the 2023 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2023 Pan American Games Sportspeople from Tarrant County, Texas People from Southlake, Texas University of Utah alumni Sport climbers at the 2024 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in sport climbing {{Climbing-bio-stub