Watch as Team USA sport climber Sam Watson breaks his own world record with a time of 4.75 seconds in the speed climbing qualifiers. Watson was up against American Zach Hammer, who fell and did not qualify.
Sam Watson of Southlake is living up to his world record name.
On Tuesday, he qualified for the men’s speed climbing final and broke another world record in the process.
He 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.
His first trip to an Olympics is a moment the 18-year-old said he has been dreaming of since he was four years old.
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"I really do love it and I do realize how much of an opportunity and a platform this is for life and to do something that I am really passionate about. It's the culmination of everything that I have worked for for the last three years. Like it has been my full-time job,” Watson told NBC 5 before the Olympics. Now he has arrived, living his dream.
After Tuesday's competition, he said none of it would be possible without support. "I feel so incredibly loved and supported by my family, my friends and the entire country to be an American representing a sport like this on this stage is like a massive dream and I truly do not take it for granted. It's just such an insanely wonderful platform to express myself and to be a positive representation of my country. And I hope I'm representing everyone well," Watson said.
The speed climbing final is August 8.
