Climber Colin Duffy Makes His Second Olympic Final, Finishing In 4th

LE BOURGET, France — Going into the lead event, the final discipline of the two-stage climbing competition on Friday, Team USA’s Colin Duffy was sitting one point behind the leader with a score of 68.3. About to compete in his specialty discipline, a medal was within his reach after finishing seventh overall in Tokyo.

Ending both semis towards the bottom, Duffy would be one of the first to climb. With temperatures higher than boulder and lead climbers typically like, the 20-year-old took his time, appearing tentative on the lower section.

In the second section, he struggled with the rope — slowing him down slightly. But he was able to bounce back on the penultimate set of boulders, hanging by one arm as he rotated in front of an excited crowd. Reaching just higher than the athlete before him, an attempted leap for a boulder caused him to come away from the wall, ending with a score of 68.1.

With one athlete left to compete, Duffy had moved down to the bronze medal position with a combined score of 136.4. As the packed stands at Le Bourget Climbing Venue watched with their breaths held, the leader from the boulder event, Japan’s Sorato Anraku, started his climb.

Anraku — the silver medalist from Tokyo — would need a two-hand hold near the top to earn 68 points, enough to overtake Duffy for the podium.

But unable to successfully finish his run, a score of 76.1 gave him a combined total of 145.4, which earned him the silver medal — just behind Great Britain’s Toby Roberts (155.2).

At 19 years old, Roberts was competing at his first Games after being too young to even qualify for Tokyo. Something Duffy could relate to as the youngest U.S. climber in Tokyo.

“I’ve grown so much as a climber,” Duffy said, visibly disappointed in his fourth-place finish. Having gotten the chance to compete on the international circuit after Tokyo, he said it’s made him “a much better climber than I was a few years ago.”

Climbing since the age of five, this was the second Olympic finals for the Denver, CO, native who is a two-time lead gold medalist at world cups.

“[This] means so much to me to see our sport on this stage and to be able to represent the sport and the U.S. It's an amazing opportunity and I don't take it for granted,” Duffy said.

His girlfriend, Tessa Raines was excited to support him in person after watching him in Tokyo from the comfort of her couch due to COVID-19 restrictions.

“He trained so hard and I think that he will definitely be sad, but I'm proud of him. His parents are proud of him. Everyone back home will be proud. He came so far and it's an improvement from Tokyo,” Raines shared, in attendance with her mom as well as Duffy’s parents, Nancy and Eric.

For Tokyo, she said, “I think he had less expectations for himself and just making a finals was a great experience for him. I think he’ll be happy with how he did [in Paris], it just hurts a little right now.”

After the sport’s inclusion in Tokyo in 2021, climbing gyms have been popping up all over the country — something Duffy is happy about.

“Hopefully, events like this push the visibility of climbing and push people to try the sport,” he said.

Next up for Duffy is lots of rest before he heads back to school in the fall, where he will be attending CU Boulder as a junior in applied math.

He looks forward to “maybe climbing outside, doing competitions — if I want to. But I’m not going to put any pressure on myself to compete until next year. I just want to enjoy climbing. Enjoy life,” he said.

Austria’s Jakob Schubert rounded out the podium with a combined score of 139.6.

Lisa Costantini has covered Olympic and Paralympic sports for more than a decade, including for the International Olympic Committee. She is a freelance writer who has contributed to TeamUSA.com since 2011.