Indonesia’s Veddriq Leonardo took Olympic gold in the men’s Speed – the first for climbing, the first for Indonesia at Paris 2024 and the first for his country in a sport other than badminton.

China’s Wu Peng won silver and USA’s Sam Watson won bronze in what was a consistent and fast finals series with five out of the eight races all producing sub-5 races.

The first was Wu versus the world champion Matteo Zurloni of Italy with just 0.002 in it as Wu posted a 4.99(5)s and Zurloni a 4.99(7)s. Wu also had to beat the world record holder Watson to set up the final race with Leonardo who first beat France’s Bassa Mawem and then Iran’s Reza Alipour Shenazandifard.

Leonardo posted a PB of 4.48s in the semi-final with Alipour Shenazandifard, and he had to as the Iranian also scored a PB of 4.84s. Leonardo’s PB didn’t last that long as he also needed another, this time of 4.75s, to beat Wu for the gold medal as Wu posted his PB of 4.77s in yet another close race.

On his in Leonardo said: "I feel very happy, I feel very joyful to bring the first gold medal for Indonesia at Paris 2024 to my country."

On dealing with the pressure he said: "I was very excited, and there was also anxiety. My heart raced, but I stayed focused and finished it."

Looking at the immediate future, there is another goal for Leonardo: "Now I'm going back to Indonesia and focusing on training. We train together in Indonesia and focus on the next competitions and also to break the world record.

"There will be a welcoming party. It is going to be amazing for me."

After his silver Wu said: "I'm not in my best shape today. Usually I feel lighter and I don't need so much power to get up. Today my body felt heavy but I managed to make quick adjustments.

"I was nervous but tried to focus on myself. I didn't think about how others would be performing. For me it was important to just get over the first round, I didn't want to put too much pressure on myself. But I was really happy to have made it to the final."

After losing at the semi-final stage, Watson had to compose himself for the bronze small final against Alipour Shenazandifard. And the American composed himself very well as he once again lowered his world record to 4.84s and secured an Olympic medal.

Talking about his performance Watson said: "I have no regrets. I don't think I made any mistake as far as the input I gave as an athlete. Speed climbing is a very low-margin-for-error sport and I was up against some incredible athletes. So no regrets, I'm really proud of Wu, and Veddriq who advanced to the podium with me. Re-setting another world record also means a lot."

On the way to the bronze Watson beat New Zealand’s Julian David in the quarter-final and Alipour Shenazandifard beat Kazakhstan’s Amir Maimuratov on his way to the small final.

Losing to gold medallist Leonardo in the quarter-final brought the curtain down on Bassa Mawem’s competition career as the Frenchman declared his retirement from racing to concentrate on other ventures.

Talking about his life after climbing Mawem said: "Vacation. We'll go on vacation and spend quality time with family because to have a career in the first place, it takes up a lot of time.

"We are lucky to have families that support us in our goals and that don't blame us for not being there at every birthday or every other important moment in their lives. So now the return journey is on us, to be more present in their lives and, with my brother, we have many plans.

"We're developing the vertical footing. It's a system that will help handicapped people climb in climbing gyms. We will present this system at the next Paralympic Games in a month, and we'll put it on the market in August 2025, so we have a lot of work ahead of us."

In the women’s Boulder & Lead semi-final, Olympic champion Janja Garnbret of Slovenia showed why she has that title with a dominant performance to lead the top eight women into Saturday’s final.

Both Japan’s Mori Ai and Garnbret climbed to a 96.1pt score with the best Lead perfomances of the day, but Garnbret’s superior Boulder score meant she progressed in first place with a score of 195.7pts out of a possible 200pts.

Mori progressed in fourth on 150.1pts.

In second place was Austria’s Jessica Pilz who’s Lead score of 88.1pts gave her a total of 156.9pts, whilst USA’s Brooke Raboutou was third with a total of 155.8pts after a 72.1pt Lead climb.

Oriane Bertone will fly the French flag for the home crowd in the final after her 45.1pt Lead climb was enough for fifth position.

After her final spot was secure Bertone said: "I'm super happy. It was the first stage of all of this and it wasn't easy, it had to be done. The level is so high now. The Boulder rounds went well for me, and it allowed me to feel confident coming into this. 

"In the start, I wasn't as confident as I wanted. I was feeling a bit tight and stressed, there were a lot of people watching, so I had to deal with that as well. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't what I was hoping for either, and I'll aim to do better on Saturday.

"I wanted to do a better run, and would have liked to climb higher. I didn't handle the pressure as I would have liked but I have been practicing a lot more recently on the finals format of this competition where we combine Boulder and Lead, so I can enter the final with confidence."

Australia’s Oceania Mackenzie reached the same point as Bertone in the Lead round, and she also made it through to the final in sixth spot.

Mackenzie said: "I haven't competed in an Olympic final before. I just can't wait to do some more climbing with an amazing crowd behind me. I just go have fun and try my best."

In seventh and eighth and into the final was Olympic debutant Erin McNeice of Great Britain and two-time Olympian Seo Chaehyun of South Korea. Their Lead climbs raised them into the finals positions ahead of climbers like Japan’s Nonaka Miho who scored better in the Boulder round, but ultimately just missed out on a shot at another Olympic medal.

Full results can be found on the IFSC website homepage: https://www.ifsc-climbing.org