Sports Bulletin Report
Paris (France): 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
