Veddriq Leonardo celebrated his miraculous triumph in Paris 2024 / Photos: EFE
Indonesian world champion Veddriq Leonardo won Olympic gold in speed climbing on Thursday, beating Asian champion Peng Wu of China by just two-hundredths of a second in the final, the first for his country at the Paris 2024 Games.
American Sam Watson, who lost his semi-final against Wu, broke his own world record in the race for bronze, which he set at 4.74, four hundredths less than the previous one, to beat Iran’s Reza Alipour.
Achievement
Leonardo added an Olympic gold to his already extensive list of achievements by achieving his personal best time of 4.75 in the final, two hundredths of a second less than Wu, who also improved her own record.
The Indonesian improved in the final of a discipline that was included in the Olympic programme for the first time at these Games.
He began by defeating the Frenchman Bassa Mawem, a legend of French climbing, who until these Games held the Olympic record and who at 39 years of age ended his career.
His next victim was Iran’s Alipour in a close race in which both achieved personal bests, but in which the Indonesian was once again the fastest, something that happened in the final against Wu.
More details
The Chinese rider made it through to the quarter-finals against Italian Matteo Zurloni in the tightest race of the day, which was decided by two thousandths of a second in favour of the Asian rider.
Wu faced the big favourite Watson in the semi-finals, beating him with a time of 4.85, while the American did not have his best run and signed a poor 4.93.
The consolation came for the American in his last race, in which he not only won bronze, but also set a new world record in this young discipline.
Paris / EFE
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2024-08-11 09:51:27
