American teen Sam Watson sets speed climbing world record in Olympic debut

Sam Watson sped into the world record books at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday.

The 18-year-old from Southlake, Texas, posted a 4.75-second time in his men’s speed climbing elimination heat at Le Bourget Climbing Venue. The mark broke his own world record of 4.79 seconds, which Iran’s Veddriq Leonardo tied earlier in the day in the seeding round.

Watson faced fellow Team USA teen Zach Hammer in the elimination heat. Hammer still had a chance to advance to the quarterfinals with a loss to Watson, but he was eliminated after failing to clock in.

This is the second time in as many days that a world record has been set in speed climbing, as Poland’s Aleksandra Miroslaw scaled the wall in 6.06 seconds in the women’s seeding round on Monday.

Watson will return to Le Bourget Climbing Venue on Thursday with the first ever men’s Olympic speed climbing medals up for grabs.

Elsewhere in the men’s competition, 39-year-old Bassa Mawem of France electrified the home crowd with a .01-second win in his heat against Ukraine’s Yaroslav Tkach. Mawem

Kazakhstan’s Amir Maimuratov posted the second-best time of the elimination heats with a 4.94.