Four USA Climbing athletes have earned Olympic quota places for Paris 2024 after winning their respective categories in Speed and Boulder & Lead at the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile. Piper Kelly and Samuel Watson won gold in Speed and Jesse Grupper and Natalia Grossman topped the field in Boulder & Lead.

Women's Speed

In the women's Speed final, 25-year-old Piper Kelly was the first to earn a ticket to Paris after qualifying for the final against teammate Emma Hunt, who had already secured a quota place at the IFSC World Championships in Bern. Kelly had qualified for the quarter finals in third place, but soon rose through the ranks as she beat Anahi Riveros of Chile and her teammate Sophia Curcio (USA) to face Hunt in the final round. Hunt false-started, giving Kelly the win and a chance to set a continental or world record. She set a new PB of 7.52 seconds, beating her previous best by three tenths of a second.

The podium was completed by Andrea Rojas of Ecuador, who took bronze with 7.59, while Curcio slipped and failed to complete the climb, finishing fourth.

Kelly told the IFSC: 

"I'm completely blown away, so excited to go to Paris! The goal coming into this event was to win and to get the Olympic ticket, but I knew it was going to be tough. I had a little bit of a rough qualifier, I slipped on my first one, so I had to pull through on the second one, and then the perfect final round, getting faster each time and setting a new PB in the last race."

Men's Speed

In the men's event, 18-year-old Samuel Watson from Texas dominated the qualification round and faced a tense battle against his teammate Noah Bratschi in the final, where both climbers stumbled before the finishing pad. Watson just managed to stop the clock at 5.37 seconds ahead of Bratschi, who hit the pad at 5.96 seconds.

"I feel great," said Watson following the podium. "I feel like this is the culmination of my entire process, that I've been working on for the past I-don't-know-how-may years… since Speed Climbing as a single medal in November 2020, so it's been a huge deal for the past three years. I'm extraordinarily proud of all my teammates, especially Noah. I know he's worked very very hard and overcome a lot of obstacles, and I would rather not race anyone else in the final. Him, and John, Emma, Sophie, and Piper who also got a ticket as well, they're the best people."

Carlos Granja of Ecuador completed the podium in third place, beating Canada's Ethan Flynn-Pitcher in a neck-and-neck final that saw Granja close with 5.52 against his rival's 5.59 seconds.

Men's Boulder & Lead

The combined Boulder & Lead event was hotly contested by a number of USA Climbing athletes. In the men's final, Lead specialist Jesse Grupper was ranked fourth after the Boulder round, which was jointly led by Sean Bailey (USA) and Sean McColl (84.5 points), followed by Zach Galla (USA) in third. Grupper was awarded a Top on M3 that he reached just before the buzzer, making for an exciting first half and a score of 69.4 points.

The Lead route was decisive in separating the joint score from Boulder and giving Grupper a chance to move up the ranks. A stunning fight on the headwall saw Grupper fall just short of the top to score 91 points. Bailey, Galla and McColl were far behind on the Lead wall, scoring points in the 50s and 40s. 

Team USA swept the men's Boulder & Lead podium with Grupper on top, Sean Bailey in second with 141.6 and Zach Galla taking bronze with 138.5 points.

Three Canadian climbers placed just outside the podium: Sean McColl took fourth position with 132.6 points, Oscar Baudrand followed in fifth with 87.4, while Victor Baudrand placed sixth with 83.1. Climbing on home soil, Benjamin Vargas of Chile concluded his event in seventh position, scoring 58.0 points. Mexico's Thor Villegas placed eighth with 53.1.

Grupper told the IFSC:

"It feels unreal, for sure, it's an incredible moment for me. I've dreamt about this since I was a little kid, and it is so meaningful to see it through to fruition and have it actually happen. I knew that I had some points to make up for from the Boulder round. I was proud of the Boulder round, honestly, I think I've pulled out some moves that I don't know if I would have been able to do a year ago, but I also wanted to fight as hard as I could on the Lead wall. Coming out, I took one move at a time, I knew that every move would matter, especially on that headwall, and I'm really glad that I was able to pull that out and make it happen."

Women's Boulder & Lead

The women's combined final was a close-fought battle between Brooke Raboutou (USA) and Natalie Grossman (USA). Raboutou had qualified for the final just ahead of Grossman by 0.1 points thanks to a stronger Boulder round, since the pair had matched for points on the semi-final Lead route. 

Grossman - whose 2023 season was not as consistent as in previous years - dominated the final Boulder round by 14.9 points ahead of Raboutou. A strong performance on the wall by Grossman locked-out Raboutou from victory mathematically before she had even set foot on the wall, scoring 88.1. Nonetheless, Raboutou showed her Lead prowess by surpassing Grossman's highpoint and earning 96 points.

The totals amounted to 172.5 and 165.4 for Grossman and Raboutou respectively, while former Pan American Champion Alannah Yip (CAN) took bronze with 128.7 points. 

Grossman told the IFSC:

"I feel just so grateful and proud of all the work I have put in. I changed a lot in this past couple of months, in my climbing and in my life, and to see it pay off feels really good."

USA's third Boulder & Lead finalist – Anastasia Sanders – placed just outside the podium, scoring 115.1 points and finishing fourth.

Alejandra Contreras of Chile and Valentina Aguado of Argentina followed Sanders finished in fifth and sixth position (91.5 and 88.8 points) respectively. 

Two more Canadian climbers completed the final ranking: Rebecca Frangos placed seventh with 86.4 points, and Indiana Chapman finished eighth with 85.8.

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Team USA now holds six of a possible eight quota places for Paris 2024, more than any other country.

Emma Hunt (Speed) and Colin Duffy (Boulder and Lead) had already qualified at the 2023 Bern IFSC World Championships.

The European Continental Qualifier in Laval, France, is the next Olympic qualification event, taking place from tomorrow (26 October). Toby Roberts, Jack MacDougall and Erin McNeice will be representing GB Climbing.