Team USA Struggles In Men’s Sport Climbing Competition
Aug 5, 2024, 4:10 AM | Updated: 4:23 am
(Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
PARIS, France – A challenging series of bouldering walls came back to haunt Americans Colin Duffy and Jesse Grupper as both climbers finished outside the top eight—the top eight climbers advance.
The Paris 2024 Olympics men’s sport climbing boulder and lead semifinals were held on Monday, August 5.
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Game(s) faces from speed practice.
All rounds of Sport Climbing at @paris2024 are streaming on @nbcolympics and @peacock, starting August 5 📺
📸 Jan Virt@teamusa | @ifsclimbing | @paris2024 pic.twitter.com/vjS1Sj5plh
— USA Climbing (@USAClimbing) August 4, 2024
Grupper got off to a rough start with zero points in his first climb, and it didn’t get much better. He finished with 18.9 points, failing to qualify for the final. He is 18th out of 20 climbers.
Duffy had a promising start, gathering more than nine points on each of the first three walls. A 4.8 on the fourth wall dropped Duffy to 11th.
About Colin Duffy & Jesse Grupper
Colin Duffy is a 20-year-old climber from Broomfield, Colorado, by way of the University of Colorado. He was the youngest member of the USA Climbing team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, finishing seventh.
Duffy won a silver in Bouldering & Lead Combined at the 2023 World Championships.
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Originally from Upper Montclair, New Jersey, Jesse Grupper has been competing in climbing events since he was nine. The 27-year-old Grupper graduated from Tufts University with a degree in mechanical engineering.
Grupper qualified for the 2024 Paris Games by winning gold in the boulder and lead competition at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile.
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