In 2021 Watson won a silver medal at the
Youth B category of the
IFSC Climbing World Youth Championships in
Voronezh, Russia. In 2022 he won a gold medal at the Edinburgh, Scotland
IFSC Climbing World Cup, in speed, and became the youngest climber to do so. Also in 2022, Watson won, a bronze medal at the
Youth A category of the IFSC Climbing World Youth Championships in
Dallas, Texas, and won first in the
US National Speed Climbing Championship. In 2023, Watson set a US and Pan American speed climbing records at 5.02 seconds, at the
2023 IFSC Climbing World Cup in
Seoul, Korea. At the Pan American Games that year, he won the gold medal and qualified in speed climbing for the
2024 Summer Olympics. In the leadup to the Olympics, he set a
world record for the discipline at 4.798 seconds, accomplished in the
2024 IFSC Climbing World Cup in
Wujiang. At the Olympics, he lost to
Wu Peng in the semifinal round, and took the bronze medal in the small final. Along the way, he broke his own world record twice. He set a world record of 4.74 seconds in the small final, climbing against
Reza Alipour. Watson is originally from Texas, == Major results ==