Silver medal in sport climbing Olympic debut for true Utahn

Japan's Mt. Fuji Photo: Manuel Cosentino

TOKYO, Japan. — Salt Lake City’s own Nathaniel Coleman is an Olympic silver medalist in the Tokyo 2020 Games’ debut of sport climbing. Spain takes gold and Austria, bronze. Coleman, 24, was born, raised, attended high school, matriculated at the University of Utah, and currently resides in Salt Lake City, the home of USA Climbing.

A Park City connection to this Olympic debut dream story is that the Utah Olympic Park was, for more than a decade, under the management leadership of Marc Norman. After amassing a respectable amount of knowledge on how to run sports National Governing Bodies (NGB)’s, Norman embarked on a new endeavor from his forever friends and colleagues in Park City to become, about five years ago, the CEO of USA Climbing. The NGB had been based out of Colorado, however, Norman had the insight thus the insistence that it could be successful at the base of the Wasatch Mountains, where Coleman had grown up climbing, and the rest is literally history.

First up of three disciplines was the speed final in which the two lone Americans, Coleman and Colin Duffy ended up being pitted against each other in the head-to-head round. With a slip of Coleman’s hands, then his feet, Duffy, 17, was able to finish ahead of Coleman in the lighting quick 6.35 seconds ranking him in 5th to Coleman’s 6th for the speed discipline.

In the bouldering round, the second discipline, Coleman found fingertip and toe tip holds that were a challenge for some of his competitors to locate ultimately ranking in first place in the bouldering. He was the only athlete from any nation with two tops when the bouldering discipline ended. That first kept him above France and japan respectively with USA’s Duffy, from Colorado, in fourth as the venue shifted its focus onto the final final within the combined event, the lead climb.

At this point in the debut of the sport in Tokyo, Coleman, the bouldering specialist, knew he was in the bronze medal position.

Finishing his lead round had Coleman in first place, however, the remainder of his competitors were more of lead specialists which made for a nail biter of a competition as climbers ascended, the wall one by one for their six-minute opportunity to represent their nation in the history books and become the world’s first sport climbing medal winners.

In lieu of local dignitaries, Coleman placed his silver around his own neck on the podium as dictated by pandemic protocols.

Teenage Team USA’s Duffy ended up in seventh. Jacob Schubert, from the mountain town of Innsbruck, Austria, was the only athlete to make it to the top of the lead course which, combined with his days’ scores, was enough to earn him a bronze medal. Eighteen-year-old Alberto Gines Lopes took the gold leaving an elated Coleman on the podium with a silver medal for the United States of America to bring home to Utah.