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Indonesia's Leonardo upsets world record setter Watson to win speed gold

Veddriq Leonardo of Indonesia celebrates winning the gold
Veddriq Leonardo of Indonesia celebrates winning the goldReuters
Veddriq Leonardo (27) clinched the gold medal in the men's speed climbing at the Paris Games on Thursday in a historic Olympic title for Indonesia, while American Sam Watson (18) walked away with a bronze despite setting a world record in his last race.

Leonardo improved his time with each race starting with the quarter-final, ultimately beating China's Wu Peng by two-hundredths of a second with a personal best of 4.75 seconds.

With his win, Leonardo gave speed-climbing powerhouse Indonesia their first Olympic gold medal in a sport other than badminton, and only their ninth since their first appearance at an Olympics in 1952.

Speed climbing medalists and times
Speed climbing medalists and timesFlashscore

In a cruel twist of fate for Watson, his best performance on Thursday came in his final sprint up the 15-metre wall for the bronze medal, in which he beat Iran's Reza Alipour with a world record time of 4.74s.

Watson had been a favourite to take the title after eclipsing his own previous world record with 4.75s two days ago.