Sarah Tetzlaff (left) and Julian David went home with the men and women's titles in speed climbing at the Sport Climbing Oceania in Melbourne Photo: IFSC / Supplied
Climbing enthusiasts hope the latest Olympic sport will take off after two New Zealanders secured a spot in Paris in 2024.
Sarah Tetzlaff, 23, and 18-year-old Julian David won the men's and women's titles at the IFSC Sport Climbing Oceania Qualifier in Melbourne at the end of November.
They beat the Australians and climbed the 15m face in just 8.54 and 6.77 seconds respectively.
It means the two will compete amongst 13 other athletes each at the Olympics next year, once they pass the New Zealand Olympic Committee's top 16 policy.
"Obviously [last Sunday] is something I've been dreaming about," said David, "I've been training like the past two years hard out for this and to accomplish this is a dream come true".
"I just felt overwhelmed to be honest, after I saw the light go green - it felt like any other run to me," Tetzlaff said, "but I also knew how significant it was."
Julian David qualified for Paris 2024 with a time of 6.77 seconds. Photo: Supplied / Rob Moore
While Tetzlaff and David had made the qualification mark, they would still need to make it through the New Zealand Olympic Committee's rigorous selection policy to get to Paris next year.
The two must prove they could realistically finish with a top 16 placing - despite only 14 athletes competing.
"I would say we're pretty likely," Tetzlaff said, "because speed climbing is so unpredictable sometimes you can beat someone when they might fall, or they might slip, or they might false start."
"Technically you've beaten them."
Coach Rob Moore (left) started the high-performance speed climbing programme last year, which has helped athletes like Sarah Tetzlaff (right) reach the highest level. (Supplied by Rob Moore) Photo: Supplied/ Rob Moore
For coach Rob Moore, it was a proud moment in Melbourne.
"We could celebrate a moment that we'd been planning and looking forward to for so long. Yeah, it was pretty exciting - I was blown away."
Speed climbing made its Olympic debut in 2021 as one of three disciplines in the sport climbing event, the other two being bouldering and lead-climbing.
For Paris however, the International Olympic Committee chose to break speed climbing off from the rest of the competition.
Soon after finding out about the changes, Moore set out to implement a high-performance speed climbing programme in his home town at Mount Maunganui, using an outdoor wall built near the Bay Oval.
"I presented this document to High Performance Sport NZ and they were very excited," Moore said.
"The amount of funding is not huge when comparing to other sports, but what is the most value in my opinion is the recognition of our sport through that process."
After running the programme for just 16 months, David won the first-ever youth worlds medal for New Zealand at the IFSC Climbing Youth World Championships in Seoul in August.
Success in such a short programme was unheard of, said Moore.
"Coaches from all around the world were just sending me messages going, 'How are you guys doing this so fast?'
"But that was just a step on the pathway. Our goal was to take these Olympic spots and we came into the Olympic qualifier with a dream and we made it happen - it was pretty exciting."
Despite having one Olympic regulation speed wall in the country, only 14 spaces in the Olympic event, and intense world-class competition, Moore refused to say they made it against all odds.
"These guys have trained unbelievably hard to get where they are and we've been hitting out goals, hitting out markers, and, you know, we've had amazing support from so many other people around us."
And climbing gyms across the country were stoked to see their passion.
While speed climbing was different to the bouldering and top-rope climbing most people were familiar with, the owner of Uprising in Christchurch, Sefton Priestly, said the representation would undoubtedly encourage people to get on the wall.
"I definitely think that there will be people inspired by these athletes and watching the Olympics to try the sport."
What started as a social activity done with friends and on school camp, had transformed into an internationally recognised sport, and one New Zealand could compete in.
Priestly said it was written in our history.
"There are other nations that are a similar size to us that regularly put out some of the best climbers in the world.
"What we share with them is a mountain heritage and culture - we have strong relationships with our mountains and mountain culture goes back to celebrating the achievements of Ed Hillary."
But he said it still had its roots as a fun, social activity.
"The biggest inspiration is you and your mates doing it."
BoulderCo general manager Adam Caldwell said it was incredible to see any Kiwi qualify.
"As a business, we're pumped to get behind them and support them.
"Any awareness in the industry like climbing in New Zealand, where we're behind the rest of the world, is going to be a positive impact."
And national competitions across the other disciplines were already reaching capacity.
"In our most recent event, we actually had to close registrations because we couldn't deal with the numbers," said Climbing New Zealand president Richard Waldin.