Sam Watson (climber)

Samuel Watson is an American professional rock climber who specializes in competition speed climbing and represents the United States at IFSC Climbing World Cups. He currently holds the world record for the discipline at 4.798 seconds, accomplished in the 2024 IFSC Climbing World Cup in Wujiang.

In 2022 he won a gold medal at the Edinburgh, Scotland IFSC Climbing World Cup, in speed, and became the youngest climber to do so. Also in 2022, Watson won a silver medal at the 2022 Youth B category of the IFSC Climbing World Youth Championships in Voronezh, Russia, a bronze medal at the Youth A category of the IFSC Climbing World Youth Championships in Dallas, Texas, and won first in the US National Speed Climbing Championship.

In 2023, Watson set a US and Pan American speed climbing records at 5.02 seconds, at the 2023 IFSC Climbing World Cup in Seoul, Korea. At the Pan American Games that year, he won the gold medal and qualified in speed climbing for the 2024 Summer Olympics

Watson is originally from Texas, and resides in Southlake, Texas.