EP 295: Sam Watson — The Fastest Climber in the World on His Routines, Mental Process, & the Olympics

Sam Watson is the current world record holder in speed climbing (4.64 seconds) and an Olympic Bronze medalist. We talked about breaking the world record in Paris, how he makes a living, building a social media following in China, the future potential of speed climbing, recovery routines and tools, chess, favorite books, airport stoicism, and more. Free Masterclass (Unlock Your Full Potential in Climbing) 👉 Show Notes: Nuggets: (00:00:00) – Intro (00:01:38) – Winter Olympics (00:05:48) – Breaking the World Record in Paris (00:14:20) – Winning Bronze in Paris (00:25:50) – LA Olympics (00:30:11) – How Sam makes a living (00:34:49) – Building a following in China (00:38:40) – Different speed formats (00:42:38) – Pro Climbing League (00:51:15) – Sam’s intro to speed climbing (01:12:35) – Sam’s future career arc (01:20:48) – Recovery routines & tools (01:24:15) – Journaling & Chris Sharma (01:29:31) – The culture of speed climbing (01:32:08) – The potential of speed (01:38:43) – Speed Classic (01:40:42) – Sam’s potential & the 0.1 rule (01:46:03) – Sub 6 for the women (01:47:33) – Hobbies & books (01:51:23) – Sam’s upcoming goals (01:52:08) – Airport stoicism (01:53:34) – Where to find Sam

You can listen to EP 295: Sam Watson — The Fastest Climber in the World on His Routines, Mental Process, & the Olympics online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

EP 295: Sam Watson — The Fastest Climber in the World on His Routines, Mental Process, & the Olympics is an episode from The Nugget Climbing Podcast by Steven Dimmitt.

This episode is 01:55:13 long.

This episode was published on Mar 23, 2026.

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