Utah Olympians: SLC's Kyra Condie finishes 11th in sport climbing debut

AT THE GAMES — Kyra Condie moved from her native Minnesota to Salt Lake City to be closer to USA Climbing, to live and train to be ready to represent the United States at the Tokyo Summer Games, where the sport would make its debut.

After a posting the seventh-best time of 8.08 seconds in the speed qualifications, she looked to be well on her way toward making the finals, too.

After running into trouble on bouldering and lead, Condie's Olympic run ended with an 11th-place finish in the qualification round, which aired early Wednesday morning back home. Fellow U.S. climber Brooke Raboutou advanced to the finals with a fifth-place average in all three disciplines.

"I was really happy with how speed went and was pretty happy with how bouldering went," Condie said. "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 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."

After finishing in the top eight in speed, Condie moved on to bouldering, where she climbed to one top and finished two zones to finish 11th. That dropped her to 11th overall, while Raboutou finished with the second-best bouldering score of three tops and one zone to rank third.

The Salt Lake City resident who had 10 fused vertebrae in her spine to overcome a severe case of scoliosis added a 22+ on lead to seal 11th-place in the first Olympics for her and her sport.

"As soon as I got into the Olympics, it was a dream turned into a reality, or potential reality," she said after the round. "And then realizing that, qualifying and now finally being here after a two-year wait has been, honestly, a dream. This whole dayI 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."

Raboutou moves on to the women's sport climbing final Friday. She joins two other USA climbers in the finals, including Murray native Nathaniel Coleman, who will compete in the men's final Thursday.

Women's basketball: United States 79, Australia 55

Breanna Stewart had 23 points, five rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots to help Team USA advance to the semifinals against Serbia.

Former Utah standout Leilani Mitchell had 14 points, six assists, three rebounds and two steals to lead Australia.

Baseball: United States 3, Dominican Republic 1

Tyler Austin went 1-for-3 with a walk, an RBI and two runs scored to help the United States hold off the Dominican Republic in the repechage round.

Former Salt Lake Community College middle infielder Eddy Alvarez had two put outs, an assist and a rare fielding error for Team USA, which got a solo home run from Triston Casas.

Starting pitcher Scott Kazmir tossed five innings of scoreless baseball, scattering two hits with one walk and five strikeouts in 18 batters faced for the United States, which will face South Korea for a shot at the gold-medal game.

Upcoming schedule:

All times listed below are in MDT.

• Men's basketball: USA vs. Australia - Damian Lillard, Weber State alum; Joe Ingles, Utah Jazz (10:15 p.m.)
• Baseball: USA vs. South Korea - Eddy Alvarez, SLCC alum (4 a.m.)
• Men's basketball: France vs. Slovenia - Rudy Gobert, Utah Jazz (5 a.m.)
• Sport climbing: Men's combined, speed final - Nathaniel Coleman, Murray native (2:30 a.m.)
• Sport climbing: Men's combined, bouldering final - Nathaniel Coleman, Murray native (3:30 a.m.)
• Sport climbing: Men's combined, lead final - Nathaniel Coleman, Murray native (6:10 a.m.)

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