If Julian David had never fractured his wrist after falling out of a tree, he may never be standing today as New Zealand's first able-bodied Speed Climbing World Champion.
The 18-year-old Tauranga Boys High School student has conquered the slippery conditions in the one-on-one final in Seoul to win the under-20 world title.
"I didn't even realise it was New Zealand's first gold medal in an IFSC (International Federation of Speed Climbing) event until afterwards, so I was excited and I got even more excited, it's quite a good honour," David told 1News from the World Championships.
The final had been postponed by a couple of days because of the treacherous conditions, and even when it did get underway, the climbers had to contend with extra challenges. That was highlighted by the times - David winning gold in 9.53 seconds, his personal best is 5.80 seconds.
"At that point it's more the mental toughness of the climbers, how well you can deal with the extra pressure," he explained. "On the day I just happened to be the most consistent and the climber who didn't let the weather impact me as much. I have climbed in similar conditions before, but not like this."
It's incredible David is even in the sport. He's always had a love of climbing, but previously not on walls. In fact, when he was in his early teens, he fell out of a tree. It was then someone suggested he should take up the sport.
"It all started four years ago, I'd fallen out of a tree and fractured my wrist and one of my teachers said 'we have a climbing wall here at Tauranga Intermediate, why don't you give it a go?' And then I went to AIMS Games and I ended up coming third and I thought I should pick this up," he laughed.
Now, just a few years later he's a very real chance of qualifying for the Paris Olympics next year. David will head to the Oceania Championships in Melbourne in November, where one spot is up for grabs for the region. He's currently the number one-ranked climber in Oceania.
"It (qualifying) would be unreal. I thought this feeling was good, that would feeling would be next level, so we'll see.
"As a kid I did a lot of sports, I always wanted to go to the Olympics in something. I was doing swimming, taekwondo, football and ended up giving up football at 14 to pursue climbing."
What's also a boost to David and the fellow climbers is $39,000 of High Performance Sport New Zealand funding, issued for the first time for this Olympic cycle.
"Without them, there's no way I'd be able to achieve the things I've achieved. There are countries that don't get anything, so I'm really grateful that we're getting this opportunity and it's nice to see they're actually seeing stuff happen from it."
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