Tokyo | 3 August – Sport Climbing made its Olympic debut tonight starting with the Men’s Qualification.

Nathaniel Coleman (Salt Lake City) and Colin Duffy (Broomfield, CO) competed in the Olympic Combined format of speed, bouldering and lead. Out of a field of 20 athletes, Duffy finished 3rd and Coleman finished 8th with both men securing positions in the top eight to advance to the Men’s Finals on Thursday, 5 August.

Speed 

Each athlete had two runs with their fastest time being used to advance. Both Duffy and Coleman set new PRs on their first runs, going 6.23 and 6.51, respectively. Their fast times earned them 6th and 10th as the athletes moved on to bouldering.

Bouldering 

The men each competed on four problems. Duffy climbed to two tops and finished 5th and Coleman secured one top, two zones and finished 11th. After speed and bouldering, Duffy was positioned in 5th and Coleman in 13th.

Lead

The Combined format ended with Lead. Duffy climbed to 42+ just shy top topping the route and finished 2nd. Coleman also excelled and climbed to 39 finishing 5th.

Their rankings for each of the three disciplines were multiplied resulting in their top eight finishing positions and a place in finals.

Athlete Quotes After Making Finals

“It feels amazing. I’m still in shock,” said Duffy. “Yeah, Nathaniel and I made finals and I couldn’t be prouder of our team.”

“After bouldering, I had lost all hope of that dream coming true,” said Coleman. “But I don’t know, somehow, that let me just climb freely on the lead route, and it felt great. A crazy format leads to crazy scores and I just kept moving up and I can’t believe it really happened.”

Coleman added, “Colin is a freaking animal and crushed the whole day. It was insane. I was super happy for him the whole day through. I was happy that we at least had one of us in the finals. And now we have two.”

Results and Photos

Full results can be found here. Article photos courtesy of Jon Glassberg / Louder Than 11 and IFSC photos can be found here.

Next Up

Sport Climbing continues on Wednesday, 4 August with the Women’s Qualification. Kyra Condie (Salt Lake City) and Brooke Raboutou (Boulder, CO) will represent Team USA in an elite field of 20 athletes.

For athlete bios or more information about Olympic Sport Climbing, please click here. Media inquiries should be directed to kelly@usaclimbing.org.