Climbing New Zealand is pleased to announce the selection of 4 athletes to compete at the FISU World University Climbing Championships to be held in Innsbruck, Austria from the 14th to the 17th of June 2022. This will be the first time New Zealand has been represented at this event in many years and we hope to see this as a regular opportunity for University age athletes in the future with the event held every two years.
Thanks for the support from UTSNZ and FISU for making this event possible.
Link to event details: https://www.fisu.net/sport-events/sport-climbing/sport-climbing
Congratulations to the selected athletes:
Alexander Kiechle-Cornish, University of Auckland
Tayla Manning, University of Auckland
Tom Waldin, University of Canterbury
Phoebe Kenderdine, University of Otago
Short bios from each athlete are listed below.
Alexander Kiechle-Cornish
Alex is in his final semester at the University of Auckland studying a conjoint degree in Statistics, Finance & Economics. He has been competing in CNZ competitions for over 5 years and is looking forward to competing internationally for NZ.
Tayla Manning
My name is Tayla Manning and I’m a sport climber from New Plymouth, Taranaki. I’m
nineteen and currently in my second year of studying at the University of Auckland towards
a Bachelor of Health Sciences/Bachelor of Science Conjoint degree. I’ve been competitively
climbing since I was about fourteen and have been passionate and loving the sport ever
since. In this time, I have won around nine national titles across all three disciplines of lead,
speed, and bouldering. I have represented New Zealand at Oceania Climbing Champs,
Australian National Climbing Champs, and at the IFSC World Youth Championships in Arco,
Italy. Climbing is such a big passion of mine and so I’m super stoked to have another
opportunity to represent New Zealand at the 2022 FISU World University Championship for
Sport Climbing.
Tom Waldin
Tom has recently graduated from the University of Canterbury with a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) and begun a job as a civil engineer. He has been climbing for close to nine years and has competed in a variety of competitions overseas, including Youth World Championships, Open World Cup events, and Open World Championships. Tom is the current and three time New Zealand Open Bouldering Champion.
Phoebe Kenderdine
I’m 19 years old and I’m studying a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences at Otago University, majoring in Anthropology and Ecology. I have been climbing for around 4 years, and competing for 3. Before then I did a range of very random sports, including karate, circus, and dance. I had the privilege of attending the IFSC Youth World Championships in Arco in 2019, alongside Tayla Manning. Climbing is a huge part of my life and I’m passionate about getting more people into climbing in New Zealand.
