In the men's speed climbing, Veddriq Leonardo gave Indonesia its first Olympic gold medal in this discipline with an incredible time of 4,75 seconds. Silver went to the Chinese Peng Wu and bronze to the American world record holder Sam Watson.
In the first quarter-final, Sam Watson and Julian David from New Zealand were the first to face each other on the 15-meter-high, five-degree overhanging speed climbing wall. The American Watson clearly won the race. He finished more than half a second faster.
In the second quarter-final, thousandths of a second counted. The Chinese Peng Wu won the race against the Italian Matteo Zurloni by a very narrow margin of two thousandths. The duel between the Indonesian favorite Leonardo and the French veteran Mawem was clearer. Veddriq Leonardo stopped the time at 2, Bassa Mawem stayed well over the five-second mark with a time of 4,88.
In the last quarter-final, Iranian Reza Shenazandifard Alipour won by a clear margin thanks to a foot slip by his competitor Amir Maimuratov.
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In the first semi-final, Sam Watson and Peng Wu faced each other. The American got off to a better start, but the Chinese quickly caught up and checked in ahead of Watson with a time of 4,85 seconds. The Indonesian won the duel between Veddriq Leonardo and Reza Shenazandifard Alipour with a new personal best time of 4,78 seconds.
In the small final, American hopeful Sam Watson secured the bronze medal. He even climbed a new world record of 4,74 seconds, but this did not change the situation that the co-favorite for Olympic gold had to settle for third place.
In the decisive duel for Olympic gold, Veddriq Leonardo and Peng Wu climbed very quickly, with times of 4,75 seconds and 4,77 seconds respectively. In the end, the strong Indonesian was able to celebrate the first Olympic gold medal in speed climbing.
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Final rankings speed climbing women | Olympic Games Paris 2024
| Rank | Country | Name |
| 1 | INA | Veddriq Leonardo |
| 2 | CHN | Peng Wu |
| 3 | USA | Sam Watson |
| 4 | INA | Reza Shenazandifard Alipour |
| 5 | KAZ | Amir Maimuratov |
| 6 | ITA | Matteo Zurloni |
| 7 | From | Bassa Mawem |
| 8 | NZL | JulianDavid |
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Credits: Cover picture IFSC/Virt/Drapella