Still Climbing

In the same time it takes you to read this sentence, Sam Watson won an Olympic medal. The speed climber scaled 15 meters (50 feet) in 4.74 seconds at the 2024 Summer Games, breaking his own world record and taking home the bronze. A minor slip in the semifinals cost him a shot at gold, but he left Paris with the best time of any medalist.

A newer Olympic event, the 15m speed climb is the Games’ shortest competition. Its fastest contender will let you in on a secret—accuracy, not speed, is key.

“It’s more like shooting or archery, rather than swimming or track, because of the high level of precision,” explains Watson. “I’m moving my limbs slower than a sprinter because I have to place them in very specific spots.”

In spring of 2024, Watson moved to Salt Lake to train at USA Climbing’s headquarters and enrolled at the U. Soon to be a second-year student, he’s balancing competitive climbing with pursuing a business degree.

A Texas native, Watson began climbing almost as soon as he could walk, scaling furniture until his parents brought him to a climbing gym on his fifth birthday. He joined a team and began competing nationally, then internationally. His drive to improve led him to the top, and by Paris he’d won three climbing World Cups and a Pan American Games. His goal is to claim the record for the most World Cup titles in men’s speed climbing—the current record is 11—and to appear in more Olympic Games.

“Connecting with athlete peers from around the world—there’s nothing like it,” says Watson, who calls his Olympics experience life-changing. “I’ll hopefully be in that sphere for the rest of my competitive career. There are no guarantees, but I’m ready to work and keep progressing.”