Veddriq Leonardo secured Indonesia’s first gold medal at the Paris Olympics by winning the men’s speed sport climbing final, narrowly defeating China’s Wu Peng.

PARIS, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) — Veddriq Leonardo won Indonesia’s first gold medal at the Paris Olympic Games after narrowly defeating China’s Wu Peng in the men’s speed climbing grand final on Thursday.

Sam Watson from the USA took bronze with a world record time of 4.74 seconds.

Leonardo set a personal best of 4.75 seconds in the grand final, 0.02 seconds faster than Wu, who eliminated world record holder Watson by 0.08 seconds in the semifinals.

“I am very happy and excited to bring my country the first gold medal for Indonesia at the World Championships in Paris 2024,” said Leonardo.

Leonardo easily reached the final, defeating first 39-year-old Bassa Mawem from France and then Reza Alipour from Iran.

Wu, on the other hand, faced much closer matches. He secured the narrowest victory of the day in the quarterfinals, beating reigning world champion Matteo Zurloni of Italy by just 0.002 seconds. He then survived another close contest against Watson before ultimately falling in the final.

“The quarter-final was the most enjoyable because the gap was so close. I really thought I might lose, but the win made me very excited,” commented the 21-year-old, but admitted that he was a little disappointed to have lost so narrowly in the final.

Wu’s silver medal was China’s second in the sport at the Paris Olympics, following Deng Lijuan’s silver in the women’s speed swimming on Wednesday.

“I’m not at my best today. I usually feel lighter and don’t need so much strength to climb. Today my body felt heavy, but I was able to adapt quickly,” Wu noted.

Watson had set a new record of 4.75 seconds in the qualification two days ago and beat his own record by 0.01 seconds in the small final against Alipour.

“I don’t regret anything. I don’t think I made any mistakes in terms of my efforts as an athlete. In speed climbing there is very little room for error and I competed against some great athletes. So I don’t regret anything,” said the 18-year-old.

“I’m really proud of Wu and Leonardo for standing on the podium with me. Setting another world record is also very significant.” ■