My Why
Five seconds on the wall. A lifetime of reasons.
1. A medal at LA28
In Los Angeles, speed climbing stands alone as its own Olympic medal event for the second time. I’ll be 23 — the age most speed climbers hit their peak. The men who beat me in Paris were the world record holder and the eventual medallists; the gap between my 5.20 and the podium is measured in tenths. Every session at Blake Park, every World Cup flight, every rep is about erasing that gap before 2028. I’m not going to LA to participate.
2. Put New Zealand speed climbing on the map — permanently
New Zealand had never won gold at any climbing world championships before Seoul 2023. We’d never sent a climber to the Olympics before Sarah Tetzlaff and me. I want kids at the AIMS Games — the same competition where I placed third on my first ever climb — to see a pathway: school comp, Blake Park, NZ team, World Cups, Olympics. When the Oceania Championships came to Mount Maunganui in 2025 and 2026, kids from my home town watched international speed climbing live. That’s how a sport takes root.
3. Show that athletes can be builders too
Speed climbing won’t pay anyone’s mortgage on prize money alone — yet. That’s exactly why I’m studying finance at Waikato and learning the creator and business side now: partnerships I actually believe in, content that grows the sport, and friendships with athletes around the world who are building in public — like pro dunkers Dylan Haugen and Cam Hazzard, who compete in Shaq’s DunkMan League and run brands, podcasts and companies between training sessions. Different sports, same blueprint: jump high, stay humble, build something that outlasts the highlight reel.
4. Be worth copying
“NZ’s Spider-Man” is a fun nickname, but the thing I actually want to be known for is simpler: train hard, study, treat people well, lose with respect and win with more of it. When I got beaten by Sam Watson in Paris I said it straight — he was faster, and I’ve been following in his footsteps since he kicked my arse at Youth Worlds in Dallas. Footsteps are meant to be followed and then outrun. If some kid in Tauranga says that about me one day, the whole thing was worth it.
The scoreboard that matters
A medal in LA. A generation of Kiwi kids on speed walls. A brand and a business that let me give back more than I take. And a 4-second race I can be proud of either way.