Colin Duffy’s LA28 mission – two events?
Duffy was the youngest climber to compete at Tokyo 2020 at the age of 17, where he finished seventh overall.
He then came within a hold of the podium at Paris 2024, placing fourth as Toby Roberts beat Sorato Anraku to gold and Jakob Schubert took home the bronze – narrowly ahead of Duffy.
“Getting fourth in Paris was definitely bittersweet,” says Duffy. “It was tough, I was like one hold off of the podium, but at the same time I was very happy to make it to the finals again and place fourth.”
Duffy therefore has added motivation to not only feature at his home Olympic Games in 2028 but to also win a medal in Los Angeles.
Although he is not looking that far ahead just yet.
“For LA, I’m just taking it one step at a time,” he adds. “My goal is to qualify for LA, but right now I’m focused on the World Cups and the world championships – that’s the only thing on my mind right now. So as it gets closer to LA I’ll worry about that.”
Sport climbing at LA 2028 will be separated into three disciplines, a change from Paris 2024, which had combined boulder and lead into one event.
And Duffy is a fan of the new Olympic format, which could see him climb for gold on two fronts.
“I think it’s really cool in LA that speed, bouldering, and lead are all separate. People can choose which one fits them the best and really try to push their limit within that specific discipline,” he says.
“The last two Olympics, athletes have had to balance something that maybe is weaker for them, that they don’t actually want to train as much, but for me I am going to try and compete in both bouldering and lead as I enjoy doing both of them.
“I can’t see myself choosing one discipline, but for others I think the level of the sport is increasing a lot over the last few years as people start to specialise and take one discipline as far as they can.”