Picking up from a 2023 season that saw him first become the men’s U20 Speed world champion, and book a spot at the Olympic Games Paris 2024, New Zealand’s 19-year-old climber Julian David has already received his first award in 2024.

At this year’s edition of the Halberg Awards, held at the Spark Arena in Auckland, New Zealand, David was selected among a field of finalists that included footballer Milly Clegg, snowboarder Lucia Georgalli, downhill mountain biker Erice Van Leuven, and kayaker Tara Vaughn, and presented with the Sky Sport Emerging Talent prize.

The Halberg Awards is New Zealand’s premiere event in honouring and recognising achievements in New Zealand sports, also serving as the main fundraising event for the Halberg Foundation.

At last year’s IFSC World Cup in Chamonix, France, Julian David set a new Oceania for the third time in less than three months – 5.80 seconds, after previously stopping the clock at 6.43 in Seoul, South Korea, and 5.83 in Villars, Switzerland.

His first IFSC gold medal, came only a few weeks later, as he took first place in the men’s U20 Speed final at the Youth World Championships Seoul 2023, a result that he doubled in Melbourne, Australia, last November, placing first at the IFSC Oceania Qualifier and becoming the first New Zealander to secure an Olympic quota place in Climbing.

The first Speed competition of the IFSC World Cup Series 2024 is scheduled to take place in Wujiang, China, from 12 to 14 April.

News and updates about all IFSC events will be available on the IFSC website, and on the Federation’s digital channels: Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, and exclusively for the Chinese audience, Douyin and Weibo.