Tokyo | 5 August – The first Men’s Olympic Sport Climbing medals were awarded tonight in the Combined format of speed, bouldering and lead. Out of a field of eight finalists, Nathaniel Coleman (Salt Lake City) won silver and Colin Duffy (Broomfield, CO) finished in 7th. The gold medal went to Alberto Gines Lopez (Spain) and the bronze went to Jakob Schubert (Austria). Speed Based on Tuesday’s Qualifications, Duffy was seeded 3rd and Coleman 8th. Duffy had a false start in his first round and eventually finished 5th with a fastest run of 6.35. Coleman had several clean rounds setting two new PRs with times of 6.45 and 6.21. Their results earned Duffy 5th and Coleman 6th as the athletes moved on to bouldering. Bouldering The men each competed on three problems. Coleman secured two tops, one zone and finished 1st. Duffy climbed to one top and two zones and finished 4th. After speed and bouldering, Coleman was in 3rd and Colin 5th heading into lead. Lead Duffy climbed to 40 and finished 3rd. Coleman also climbed well, making it to 34+ and finishing 5th. Their rankings for each of the three disciplines were multiplied resulting in 30 points for Coleman and 60 points for Duffy. Athlete Quotes After Finals Coleman quotes: On his mindset and expectations, “Getting into finals, it didn’t feel for real for a long time. I put a lot of effort in resetting my mind and believe a good performance was possible. I never dared to acknowledge the dream that I could medal at the Olympics. Just making finals was like my Hail Mary goal.” On bouldering, “I could not believe how well bouldering went. It was — whew.” On the finale, “It was a fortune final in the fact that the audience got to see how much the route setting can affect the competition. The lead route was perfectly set. There was one man to top it, at the very, very last. That’s the pinnacle of excitement in lead climbing competition.” Duffy quotes: On the medalists, “They earned it. They climbed amazingly, and everyone in this field is world class and such strong athletes, so just to be in the finals is amazing.” On the false start in speed, “Probably a little bit of the nerves and just excitement, but time goes so slow when you’re in competition, it felt like a really slow start.” On the lead route, “I mean, really hard lead route. Probably the two best competition lead climbers of all time that beat me, and I put up a good fight and I’m happy with that. I think some of the clipping like at the top there, my right arm was like maybe a little more tired than it needed to be, but I’m pretty satisfied with that performance.” Reflections after the event, “It feels great. It did not go the way I wanted. But it leaves me hungry for more in the future. I mean, I’m only 17, so I have a lot of time. I’m upset, but I’m still happy. Like, as time goes on, I’ll be able to appreciate what today was.” And Paris 2024, “Yes. That’s definitely, Olympic wise, the next goal and hopefully I’ll do better the next time.” Results and Photos Full results can be found here. Article photo courtesy Daniel Gajda and more IFSC photos can be found here. Next Up Sport Climbing concludes Friday, 6 August with the Women’s Final. Brooke Raboutou (Boulder, CO) will represent Team USA in the final field of eight athletes. For athlete bios or more information about Olympic Sport Climbing, please click here. Media inquiries should be directed to kelly@usaclimbing.org.
Tokyo | 6 August – Olympic Sport Climbing came to a close tonight with medals awarded in the Women’s Final. Out of a final field of eight, Brooke Raboutou (Boulder, CO) finished in 5th. The medals went to Janja Garnbret (Slovenia) gold, Miho Nonaka (Japan) silver and Akiyo Noguchi (Japan) bronze. Speed Raboutou fell against Nonaka, lost to Garnbret with a 8.77, and beat Seo (Republic of Korea) with a 9.06. After three speed runs she was positioned in 7th heading into bouldering. Bouldering The women each faced three problems. Raboutou fought hard and was very close on several problems climbing to three zones and finishing 2nd. After speed and bouldering, she headed into lead in 5th place. Lead Raboutou was the third climber to attempt the wall and climbed to 20+. She finished 6th in lead. Her rankings for each of the three disciplines were multiplied resulting in 84 points. Results and Photos Team USA had a very strong week finishing with Nathaniel Coleman 2nd, Brooke Raboutou 5th, Colin Duffy 7th, and Kyra Condie 11th. Full Olympic Combined results can be found here. Article photo courtesy Jon Glassberg / Louder Than 11 and more IFSC photos can be found here. Next Up Sport Climbing is over but the Olympic Games are not. The US Olympic Climbing Team is planning to walk in the Closing Ceremonies on Sunday, 8 August. Please check your local viewing options here. For athlete bios or more information about Olympic Sport Climbing, please click here. Media inquiries should be directed to kelly@usaclimbing.org.
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.
Tokyo | 4 August – Olympic Sport Climbing continued tonight with the Women’s Qualification. Kyra Condie (Salt Lake City) and Brooke Raboutou (Boulder, CO) competed in the Olympic Combined format of speed, bouldering and lead. Out of a field of 20 athletes, Raboutou and Condie climbed to 5th and 11th, respectively, with Raboutou making the top eight to advance to the Women’s Final on Friday, 6 August. Speed The qualification format was the same as the Men’s event on Tuesday night. Each athlete had two runs with their fastest time being used to advance. Condie and Raboutou finished with 8.08 and 8.67, respectively, with Raboutou setting a new competition PR. Their times earned them 7th and 12th as the athletes moved on to bouldering. Bouldering The women each faced four problems. Raboutou earned three tops and one zone and finished in 2nd. Condie climbed to one top and two zones to finish 11th. After speed and bouldering, Raboutou was ranked 3rd and Condie in 9th. Lead The Combined format ended with Lead. Raboutou climbed to 26+ finishing 8th and Condie climbed to 22+ ending in 11th. Their rankings for each of the three disciplines were multiplied resulting in their finishing positions of 5th and 11th. Athlete Quotes After Qualifications From Brooke Raboutou: On her performance, “I was very happy with my speed performance today. I was able to get two very clean runs, which is not always the case. The wall is really great and everyone is excited. Definitely a few nerves for me at the beginning as expected, but overall I am happy with my time. Bouldering I was very happy with and was able to be very present in the moment, which can be hard to do in such a big competition, and execute the climbs really well. I found them very physical, which I really enjoy. For lead, that’s usually my best discipline, and I’m happy with my climbing but wish I got to show a little bit more of how hard I’ve worked and what I’ve got left.” On being a part of Team USA, “This is team is pretty special. I’m so excited that our US team has been able to step it up this last year. I think we all feel each other’s energy and are thriving off of each other as a team, and that’s just making a big difference. We’re here to stay so we’re excited.” On the climbing community, “I think the community is one of the most special things about climbing. Everyone’s genuinely happy for each other, and wants each other succeed. Of course they want to do well themselves, but you see teams laughing, really good friends, going on trips together, and sharing information for everyone to do their best. Everyone knows each other and it’s a tight community.” From Kyra Condie: On her performance, “I was really happy with how speed went and was pretty happy with how bouldering went. Of course I’m kicking myself for not finishing that fourth boulder because it would have put me in a good spot. I was proud of my fight on this lead climb because there was a move that’s really, really difficult for me with my spinal fusion right in the middle. Before going out, I was definitely worried about it and then it felt even harder than I expected. That was really hard mentally on the wall to get through and threw me off, but I was really happy that I was able to do that move and keep going.” On the Olympic dream, “As soon as climbing got into the Olympics, it was a dream turned into a reality, or potential reality. And then realizing that, qualifying and now finally being here after a two year wait has been, honestly, a dream. This whole day I was climbing, but I could almost see myself in third person climbing – but in a good way. I felt really in a good spot and psyched, excited. Happy to represent my sport and try and show what it’s all about.” 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 Thursday, 5 August with the Men’s Finals. Colin Duffy (Broomfield, CO) qualified 3rd and Nathaniel Coleman (Salt Lake City) qualified 8th and will represent Team USA in the elite Final field of eight. For athlete bios or more information about Olympic Sport Climbing, please click here. Media inquiries should be directed to kelly@usaclimbing.org.