Tokyo Olympics - Alberto Gines Lopez is sport climbing's first ever champion after thrilling men's final
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Updated 05/08/2021 at 16:13 GMT
Spain's 18-year-old sensation Alberto Gines Lopez is the men's combined Olympic champion. Lopez won sport climbing's first ever gold medal and was in disbelief after Jakob Schubert 's amazing lead climb handed him the title. You want it? We have it. Stream every Olympic event live on discovery+.
'He does! He does!' - Huge drama as gold medal changes hands on final climb
Spain's Alberto Gines Lopez is sport climbing’s first ever Olympic champion after winning the men’s combined event at Tokyo 2020.
The 18-year-old pulled off a stunning triumph after a truly thrilling end to a closely contested final.
Lopez laid down a marker from the very start by winning the speed discipline. The Spaniard upset Japan’s Tomoa Narasaki in the last race in a dramatic final clash.
Narasaki slipped at the start which allowed Spaniard Lopez to storm to victory in 6.42 seconds.
Replays showed Narasaki could have been on track for one of his fastest times before he slipped as he tried to skip over a hold.
The bouldering round saw six of the seven of the athletes top the first problem with ease. The second problem proved much more difficult with the first zone requiring a dynamic swinging move that many struggled to pull off. The top was equally challenging and only American Nathaniel Coleman was able to solve the problem.
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Nathaniel Coleman celebrates as he competes in the men's sport climbing bouldering final during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games
Image credit: Getty Images
It meant Coleman had the chance to win the bouldering in the next gruelling problem. The 24-year-old from Utah scaled the problem dubbed the rising sun to reach the first zone, but couldn’t quite touch the top.
In fact none of the field could reach the top in an insanely challenging problem which resulted in Coleman winning the discipline.
With two disciplines down, it was a three-way tie at the top of the table with Frenchman Mickael Mawem, Narasaki and Coleman all on six points heading into the lead discipline.
Coleman moved into gold position with a 34+ in the lead and took his seat on the leader’s couch to see if the remaining four athletes could better him.
Adam Ondra was next out and lived up to his illustrious reputation by rapidly scaling the wall and falling just a few moves off the top. His 42+ moves was enough to give him a huge shout of becoming the Olympic champion.
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Lopez almost matched Ondra but his 38+ score combined with his first-place finish in the speed round meant he moved into gold medal position with a total score of 14.00.
Colin Duffy then fell just a move short of becoming Olympic champion meaning with one climb to go Austria’s Jakob Schubert could still shake up the final rankings and knock Lopez off of top spot and fire Ondra to the peak.
And the double lead world champion’s incredible climb made for an phenomenal finish as he became the first man to top the lead discipline and hand Lopez the gold medal.
Schubert’s amazing final effort meant he took the bronze medal and USA’s Coleman won the silver.
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