Somebody at Paris 2024 will take five seconds to win an Olympic gold medal. Ok, so there is a little more to it than that, but there is a possibility that the men’s Speed climbing gold could be decided in the same time it would take someone to tie their shoe laces.

Since it was announced that Speed climbing would get its own medal in Sport Climbing’s second appearance at a summer Games, times to complete the 15m vertical route have tumbled with specialists now regularly going under the previously much anticipated five-second barrier.

With qualification seeding, then qualification elimination before finals, getting to the gold medal race will be tough for the 14 men in a very competitive discipline. Then, and only then will there be potentially five seconds or less between you and history as the first to win a standalone men’s Olympic Speed gold.

The first to qualify for Paris 2024 were Italy’s Matteo Zurloni and China’s Long Jinbao. Making their way through the rounds to face off in the final for the title of world champion secured both a Paris 2024 ticket. It was Zurloni who came out on top when Long made a false start.

That world champion title and gold medal was the first of Zurloni’s senior career, and since then he has joined the sub-five club with a 4.97s time at the World Cup in Chamonix – and that is the current European record. In 2024, Zurloni’s Games preparation has included participating in four World Cup’s, and he has finished in the top six in all of those appearances.

In contrast, Long has only featured in one World Cup this year – Wujiang in his homeland – and finished 16^th. His two previous results ended with podium finishes, one being that World Championships and the other the Asian Games in which he picked up another silver medal. Long’s PB time is 5.03s which he posted at the World Championships.

Joining Zurloni from Europe is France’s Bassa Mawem. The oldest and most experienced climber in the field at 39-years-old, Mawem has Olympic experience – although not all good memories. At Tokyo 2020 Mawem had to pull out midway through the competition after tearing his bicep. The Frenchman has indicated this will be his last event so he will be hoping to sign off on a high. Heading into the Games Mawem posted a PB at the World Cup in Briançon, the last World Cup before Paris 2024. His PB now stands at 5.25s, lower than the current Olympic record that he holds of 5.45s.

If you are talking about Speed records, you have to talk about USA’s Sam Watson. In 2022 Watson was competing at the Youth Worlds in Dallas, Texas, and in that same year he won his first Speed World Cup gold – the first for an American climber and the youngest ever at 16-years-old. Since then Watson has come on leaps and bounds and in 2024 has broken the world record – which now stands at 4.79s – and won two more gold medals - one in Salt Lake City and the other in Chamonix. Winning the Pan American Games to secure a spot in Paris really seemed to accelerate the already talented Watson’s rise. Definitely one to watch!

Before Watson took the world record the Indonesian team seemed to be sharing the honour. Veddriq Leonardo was the first to break five seconds in 2023 and took the record from teammate Kiromal Katibin. However, it was another Indo climber that came through the Asian qualifier – Rahmad Adi Mulyono.

Adi Mulyono hit form at the right time in 2023. He took his first World Cup win in Chamonix, with a PB of 4.97s on the way to that gold, before narrowly missing out on a World Championship ticket finishing third. But then, he topped off the streak with another win at the Asian qualifier, and that booked his spot in the men’s Speed starting line-up.

Another climber with a string of wins at the right time was New Zealand’s Julian David. The Oceania record holder won the Youth Worlds 2023 in Seoul, South Korea and added the top step of the Oceania qualifier to his achievements – that was the win that secured an Olympic appearance. In the final World Cup before Paris 2024 in Briançon David made it through to finals and also lowered his Oceania record with a PB of 5.26s.

Joshua Bruyns has one medal to his name, and it not only got him the top step of the podium and some silverware, but it also got him on the plane to Paris. His win came at the African qualifier. In 2020 Bruyns was competing in the combined of Boulder, Lead and Speed, but in 2022 he began to focus on Speed, and it paid off. Just like David, Bruyns lowered his PB to 5.71s in Briançon, and also his continental record for Africa.

China’s Wu Peng loves to compete at home. At the World Cup in Wujiang in 2023 Wu won gold. Wu followed that up by defending the top step in 2024. Wu then added a second-place finish at the OQS in Shanghai, but he went one better in Budapest by winning the event and confirming his spot at the Games. Budapest was the Chinese climbers last competitive event before Paris.

As mentioned earlier, Veddriq Leonardo had been the Speed world record holder until as recently as the start of the year, but with teammate Adi Mulyono already confirming his spot, it meant either Leonardo or the other Indonesian former record holder Katibin would miss out. Leonardo though stepped it up by winning the OQS in Shanghai lowering his PB and the Asian record to 4.83s in the process. A third-place finish in Budapest was then enough to secure his spot above his teammate. Leonardo was the first to go sub-five in competition when he posted a 4.98s, and an even lower 4.90s at the same World Cup in Seoul 2023, and he will surely be looking to regain that title and an Olympic medal in Paris.

Kazakhstan’s Amir Maimuratov has been showing good form ahead of Paris 2024. A second-place finish at the OQS in Budapest helped booked a place at the Games, and he has backed that up with a sixth in Chamonix and fifth in Briançon at the two World Cups preceding the Olympics. Maimuratov also goes into the Games with a new sub-five PB of 4.96s which he achieved in Briançon.

Training with the world record holder has surely helped progress USA’s Zach Hammer. He began the year with a fifth place at World Cup Salt Lake City and two solid performances of seventh in each of the OQS events booking his place in Paris. Hammer even scored a PB of 5.17s in the first OQS event in Shanghai.

Iran’s Reza Alipour Shenazandifard is another former world record holder in the line-up. His 5.48s in 2017 stood for four years before it was broken by Katibin in 2021. A year after that record Alipour Shenazandifard won the World Championships in Innsbruck, Austria, but he would have a wait for five years before his next gold - and it came at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. China was also the place of his latest PB when he tapped a 5.04s run at the OQS in Shanghai on his way to sixth place. A 13^th in Budapest was enough to ensure a Games appearance for the Iranian climber.

Performing well in Shanghai was also key to Ukraine’s Yaroslav Tkach. Tkach finished fourth and also posted a PB in the event when he ran a 5.09s. Following that performance and result up with a 16^th place finish in Budapest was enough for the Ukrainian to join the Games start list.

The final climber on the list is South Korea’s Euncheol Shin. Just like Yaroslav, Shin lowered his PB to 5.09s in Shanghai, but his was in a 12^th place finish performance. An 11^th in Budapest was enough for the South Korean Speed climber to make Paris, and although he has been close to a World Cup podium, he has never made that last step – maybe Paris 2024 could be the catalyst for that going forward.

Just like the women’s competition, one climber has Olympic experience – and an Olympic record – France’s Mawem. But with the men’s Speed climbers now focussed on one medal after Tokyo 2020, the records have been falling, and rapidly, and you can expect the same to be seen with the Olympic record. One thing is for sure, the men’s competition is going to be intense – if everyone can hold their nerve in the discipline’s first Olympic outing.

The men’s Speed qualification begins at 13:00 (UTC+2:00) on Tuesday 6 August with the finals on Thursday 8 August.