Samuel Watson (born February 27, 2006) is an American professional rock climber who specializes in competition

speed climbing Speed climbing is a climbing discipline in which speed is the ultimate goal. Speed climbing is done on rocks, walls and poles and is only recommended for highly skilled and experienced climbers. Competition speed climbing, which takes place on a ...

and represents the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

at IFSC Climbing World Cups. He holds the world record for the discipline at 4.64 seconds, accomplished at the 2025 IFSC Climbing World Cup in

Bali Bali (English:; Balinese language, Balinese: ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller o ...

, Indonesia. He won a bronze medal at the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, France.

Career

In 2021 Watson won a silver medal at the Youth B category of the IFSC Climbing World Youth Championships in

Voronezh Voronezh ( ; , ) is a city and the administrative centre of Voronezh Oblast in southwestern Russia straddling the Voronezh River, located from where it flows into the Don River. The city sits on the Southeastern Railway, which connects wes ...

, Russia. In 2022 he won a gold medal at the Edinburgh, Scotland IFSC Climbing World Cup, in speed, and became the youngest climber to do so. Also in 2022, Watson won, a bronze medal at the Youth A category of the IFSC Climbing World Youth Championships in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, and won first in the US National Speed Climbing Championship. In 2023, Watson set a US and Pan American speed climbing records at 5.02 seconds, at the 2023 IFSC Climbing World Cup in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

, Korea. At the Pan American Games that year, he won the gold medal and qualified in speed climbing for the

. In the leadup to the Olympics, he set a world record for the discipline at 4.798 seconds, accomplished in the 2024 IFSC Climbing World Cup in Wujiang. At the Olympics, he lost to Wu Peng in the semifinal round, and took the bronze medal in the small final. Along the way, he broke his own world record twice. He set the current world record of 4.74 seconds in the small final, climbing against

Reza Alipour Reza Alipour Shenazandifard (, born 29 April 1994) is an Iranian competition speed climber from Qazvin. Career In 2014, in Spain, he registered 5.97 seconds and broke his own Iranian record in speed climbing. The International Federation of S ...

. Watson is originally from Texas, and resides in

Millcreek, Utah Millcreek is a city in Salt Lake County, Utah, United States, and part of the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The population as of the 2020 census was 63,380. Prior to its incorporation on December 28, 2016, Millcreek was a census-designa ...

Major results

Olympic Games

World championships

World Cup

References

External links

* 2006 births Living people American rock climbers Speed climbers Year of birth missing (living people) American competition climbers Sport climbers at the 2023 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2023 Pan American Games Sportspeople from Tarrant County, Texas People from Southlake, Texas University of Utah alumni Sport climbers at the 2024 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in sport climbing 21st-century American sportsmen {{Climbing-bio-stub