Paris Olympics: USA climber Sam Watson clinches bronze with another world record

AT THE GAMES — Just a few days after breaking his own world record of 4.75 seconds in an elimination climb, University of Utah student Sam Watson earned his first Olympic medal.

The 18-year-old climber edged his own world record (again) in 4.74 seconds to secure the bronze medal Thursday in Le Bourget, France.

Earlier Thursday in a quarterfinal, Watson beat out New Zealand's Julian David in 5.03 seconds up the wall. He lost by 0.08 seconds to China's Wu Peng in the semifinals, sending him to the small final — essentially the bronze-medal match — against Iran's Reza Alipour Shenazandifard.

Wu earned silver with a final run of 4.77 in the big final, while Inodnesia's Leonardo Veddriq won gold in 4.75 seconds.

But Watson, who will start classes at the U. this fall while training with USA Climbing that is headquartered in Salt Lake City, scaled the wall in 4.74 seconds for the first medal of any color for the United States' climbing delegation in the Paris Summer Games.

"I'm very happy to be on this stage, and I have no regrets," Watson said in a team release. "To be an Olympic medalist, to hold it in my hand with a piece of the Eiffel Tower in it — nobody can ever take that away from me."

Fellow sport climber Colin Duffy will compete in the men's combined final Friday.

Aggies alum Hawkins suffers heptathlon heartbreak

Chari Hawkins' first Olympics in the heptathlon started strong, but likely ended in disappointing heartbreak.

The 33-year-old former Utah State track standout failed to clear a height on any of her three attempts in the high jump — the second stop of the seven-event heptathlon — Thursday at the Stade de France.

Hawkins chose her first height of the round at 1.71 meters, a makeable height after clearing a season-best 1.79 at the U.S. Olympic trials in June. Points are awarded based on clearances, but Hawkins' "no mark" citation earned her zero points and broke her to tears and effectively ended her shot at a medal.

The Rexburg, Idaho, native who trains with former BYU coach Craig Poole in San Diego, started well with a fifth-place finish in her 100-meter hurdles heat in 13.36 seconds, earning 1,100 points. After defaulting in the high jump, she threw an 11th-place mark of 13.64 meters in the shot put and added a seventh-place finish running next to American teammate Anna Hall in her 200-meter heat in 24.49 seconds.

Hawkins is 22nd in the heptathlon after four events with 2,804 points. Great Britain's Katarina Johnson-Thompson is first with 4,055 points, followed by Belgium's Nafissatou Thiam with 4,007 and Hall with 3,956.

Competition resumes Friday with the final three events of the heptathlon.

Utah diver Nilsson Garip is finals bound

Emilia Nilsson Garip is about two weeks from classes of her sophomore year at the University of Utah, but the Swedish diver has an important task to wrap up this summer.

The Utes' All-American diver earned a spot in Friday's 3-meter springboard diving final with an 11th-place score of 279.60 points Thursday at the Aquatics Centre.

Nilsson Garip, who won diver of the meet at last year's Pac-12 championships before placing ninth at the NCAA championships in the 1-meter event, was among the top-12 divers to qualify for Friday's finals.

China's Yiwen Chen finished first in the semifinals with a score of 360.85, followed by Australia's Maddison Keeney (334.70) and Italy's Chiara Pellacani (324.75).

"The Olympics have been a dream ever since I started diving, but I don't know that I ever really thought I would go," Nilsson Garip said before the Games. "I want to take the experience one step at a time and just enjoy it."

Friday's final is scheduled for 7 a.m. MDT.

LOVB Salt Lake teammates to help USA defend women's volleyball gold

The United States' women's volleyball team will get a chance to defend its Olympic gold medal earned in Tokyo in 2021, and two teammates of the forthcoming LOVB Salt Lake franchise will be part of it.

They certainly were in Thursday's semifinals.

Jordyn Poulter, the 6-foot-2 setter from Illinois who signed with Salt Lake in December, dished out a match-high 31 assists with nine digs as Team USA held off Brazil in five sets, 25-23, 18-25, 25-15, 23-25, 15-11, at the South Paris Arena.

LOVB Salt Lake teammate Haleigh Washington added five kills and two blocks, including a solo stuff that forced match point, up 14-10 in the fifth set. Former Stanford star Kathryn Plummer, who plays professionally in Turkey, led the United States with 26 kills.

The gold medal final is scheduled for Sunday at 5 a.m. MDT.

League One Volleyball will tip off its inaugural 56-match regular season with six teams including Salt Lake City, on Jan. 8, 2025. The club will debut at home Jan. 22 against LOVB Houston.

Woodhalls celebrate Olympic gold

Shout out to Tara Davis-Woodhall, who isn't a native Utahn but married former Syracuse High star sprinter Hunter Woodhall in October 2022. The couple celebrated Thursday with Davis-Woodhall's first Olympic gold as the reigning world silver medalist leapt 7.10 meters to win the long jump over Germany's Malaika Mihambo (6.98) and Team USA's Jasmine Moore (6.96).

Hunter Woodhall's reaction to his wife's final jump, when gold was already assured, is priceless.

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