American sport climber Sam Watson leaves Paris Olympics with world record but without gold medal

LE BOURGET, France (AP) — Sam Watson leaves the Paris Games with another world record in speed sport climbing but without the Olympic gold medal.

The American broke the speed world record on Thursday for the second time at the 2024 Paris Olympics, but the feat came in the fight for the bronze after he was eliminated in the semifinals.

The 18-year-old Watson, the heavy favorite for the gold, lost to Wu Peng of China in the semifinals before setting a record of 4.74 seconds in the third-place heat. Leonardo Veddriq of Indonesia won the gold with a time of 4.75 in the final. Wu ended with 4.77.

“I was just flying and doing my thing. I think nothing really changed between any of my laps,” Watson said. “Just a couple millimeters of an error is really the name of the game in the sport. So no really regrets. I don’t think the pressure really got to me or anything like that. I think I just made a tiny little stumble.”

Watson first broke the record with a time of 4.75 in an elimination heat two days ago. He had held the previous world record of 4.79 since April.

Watson said the world record meant “a lot” and was “a big accomplishment,” but it hadn't sunk in yet what it meant to go home with the record but not the gold medal.

“I haven’t really gone through it,” he said. “I think all that kind of stuff is external rather than internal. I have a view of who I am in my mind, and that doesn’t really change regardless of my performance. But other people will view me in certain ways, and I hope that way as positive and a good representation of myself, my sport and my country.”

Watson said he will “take a little break, maybe go on a little vacation after trying so hard” in Paris.

But only after finishing the Olympic Village muffin that he had been praising on his social media accounts since arriving in Paris.

“That was the first thing I was doing, is I would get my chocolate muffin that I brought from the village and eat it right after, regardless of what happened,” he said.

AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

Veddriq Leonardo of Indonesia reacts as he competes in the men's speed final during the sport climbing competition at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Le Bourget, France. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

Veddriq Leonardo of Indonesia, left, reacts after competing in the men's speed final during the sport climbing competition at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Le Bourget, France. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

Sam Watson of the United States competes in the men's speed final during the sport climbing competition at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Le Bourget, France. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

Sam Watson of the United States, left, and Wu Peng of China compete in the men's speed semifinal during the sport climbing competition at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Le Bourget, France. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

Sam Watson of the United States reacts as he competes in the men's speed semifinal during the sport climbing competition at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Le Bourget, France. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

Sam Watson of the United States, center, congratulates Wu Peng of China after competing in the men's speed semifinal during the sport climbing competition at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Le Bourget, France. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

Sam Watson of the United States, left, and Reza Alipour Shenazandifard of Iran compete in the men's speed final during the sport climbing competition at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Le Bourget, France. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

Sam Watson of the United States after competing in the men's speed semifinal during the sport climbing competition at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Le Bourget, France. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

Russia’s Federal Security Service on Friday accused six British diplomats of spying and said a decision has been made to withdraw their accreditation.

Russian state TV quoted an official from the security service known as the FSB as saying that they will be expelled. The expulsions come as Prime Minister Keir Starmer visits Washington for talks with President Joe Biden that will include Ukraine’s request to use Western-supplied weapons against targets inside Russia.

Starmer said on his way to the U.S. that Britain does not “seek any conflict with Russia.” “Russia started this conflict. Russia illegally invaded Ukraine. Russia could end this conflict straight away,” he told reporters.

“Ukraine has the right to self-defense and we’ve obviously been absolutely fully supportive of Ukraine’s right to self-defense — we’re providing training capability, as you know. But we don’t seek any conflict with Russia — that’s not our intention in the slightest,” he said.

The FSB said it received documents indicating that the diplomats were sent to Russia by a division of the U.K. Foreign Office “whose main task is to inflict a strategic defeat on our country,” and that they were involved in “intelligence-gathering and subversive activities.”

Based on these documents and “in response to numerous unfriendly steps by London,” the Russian Foreign Ministry withdrew the accreditation of the diplomats, the FSB said, without identifying them. It warned that if other diplomats are found to be carrying out “similar actions,” the agency “will demand early termination of their missions” to Russia.

Russian state TV said in a report that the six diplomats had met with independent media and rights groups that have been declared “foreign agents” — a label the Russian authorities have actively used against organizations and individuals critical of the Kremlin.

The British Embassy in Moscow did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press. There was no immediate comment from Britain's Foreign Office.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in an online statement that “We fully agree with the assessments of the activities of the British so-called diplomats expressed by the Russian FSB. The British Embassy has gone far beyond the limits outlined by the Vienna Conventions." She said the diplomats were carrying out “subversive actions aimed at causing harm to our people.”

Expulsions of diplomats — both Western diplomats working in Russia and Russian diplomats working in Western countries — have become increasingly common since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Russian news outlet RBC counted last year that Western countries and Japan expelled a total 670 Russian diplomats between the beginning of 2022 and October 2023, while Moscow expelled 346 diplomats in response. According to RBC, it was more than in the previous 20 years combined.

In May the U.K. expelled Russia’s defense attaché in London, alleging he was an undeclared intelligence officer, and closed several Russian diplomatic properties in Britain that it said were being used for spying.

FILE - The British Embassy building, center, with the Russian Foreign Ministry building, second right, in Moscow, Russia, Friday, March 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin, File)

FILE - Birds fly with the British Embassy building at center in the background in Moscow, Russia, Friday, March 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin, File)