Kiwi speed climber Julian David exceeded his boldest hopes by not only setting two personal bests, but by making the men’s quarterfinals at the Paris Olympics.
“It’s a phenomenal feeling,” he said. “Setting a PB was a goal, but making the quarterfinals is a real bonus.”
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Perhaps it was preordained that Davis, 19, would do well in Paris. After all, he was born in La Rochelle, France, moving to New Zealand with his family when he was three.
In the qualifying round, David had times of 5.24 and 7.33 seconds, which placed him ninth of the 14 competitors.
Into the elimination heat, David had to take on experienced Iranian Reza Alipour Shenazandifard, a former world champion.
It was a daunting proposition, but after trailing early on, David rocketed up the final part of the wall and touched the pad, which turned green, signalling he had won.
“It’s such an adrenalin rush when you hit the green, it’s incredible. And the crowd here makes it even more exciting. I thought, ‘Wow, I’m here with the big boys now.’”
David will line up in Thursday’s quarterfinals against another teen, American Sam Watson, who broke his own world record during his elimination heat.
In Marseille, New Zealand’s mixed multihull (nacra) entry slipped fractionally on an abbreviated day of sailing on Tuesday, but still have hopes of claiming a medal.
Micah Wilkinson and Erica Dawson had three races for placings of 17th, third and seventh and finished the qualifying series third-equal on 47 points with Great Britain, though officially designated fourth. Italy lead with 27, followed by Argentina on 41.
Only the double-points medal race remains and the leading four boats will dispute the medals, though it will be hard to prise the gold off Italy.
Wilkinson said their first outing did not go too well, but they pulled it back in the second race.
"We're in contention for a medal, and we're excited about that."
In the men’s kitesurfing, Lukas Walton-Keim had two races, for placings of ninth and 18th, not enjoying the calm conditions and hoping for a stronger breeze on Wednesday.
Justina Kitchen had one race in the women’s kitesurfing and recorded a DNS (did not start) and the maximum 21 points.
Tom Saunders will start the men's dinghy medal race on Wednesday in seventh position with 80 points, well behind leader Matt Waern of Australia. The medal race was unable to be held on Tuesday.