MCCOLL’S JOURNEY ENDS WITH A PERSONAL BEST TIME

Sean Mccoll’s 17th-place finish in the sport climbing qualifier means he won’t reach the Olympic podium at Tokyo 2020, but the veteran climber will go down in history as the first Canadian to compete in the sport at the Games, something he’s described as a lifelong dream.

Sport climbing made its Olympic debut Tuesday with a gruelling night of men’s competition in the heat and humidity at Tokyo’s Aomi Urban Sports Park. They climbed, back-to-back, in all three of the sport’s disciplines — a stunning showcase for a sport whose popularity has surged in recent years.

Mccoll powered out a personal best in the speed climbing component of the qualification, a vertical sprint up a 15-metre high wall with competitors given two attempts to secure their fastest time.

The 33-year-old hit the buzzer at 6.93 seconds, a time that saw him ranked 14th out of 20, coming out of the discipline that’s traditionally been his weakest.

It was a personal best that he went into focused on achieving, Mccoll told reporters in Tokyo after competition wrapped.

“If I was 20th out of 20 — I got a PB,” Mccoll said. “It’s like Andre De Grasse getting a PB in the 100(m). It’s hard to not be happy with third, when you’re like, ‘Yeah, but I got a PB.’

“I haven’t asked him so I don’t actually know,” Mccoll added, wryly. Mccoll had a final ranking of 17th in the qualifier.

The eight climbers with the lowest combined scores moved on to Thursday’s final, with that score calculated by multiplying their rankings in speed, bouldering and lead climbing. Only one set of medals for men and another for women will be given out for sport climbing at this Olympics, so all three of the sport’s disciplines have been combined into a single event.

France’s Bassa Mawem set sport climbing’s first Olympic record in the speed competition, finishing his first run in a blazingly fast 5.45 seconds, behind the current world record of 5.20 seconds.

Canadian Alannah Yip will compete in the women’s combined qualifier Wednesday.