{"id":550578,"date":"2026-07-30T03:15:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T03:15:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/550578\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T03:15:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T03:15:19","slug":"tauranga-speed-climber-mila-piatek-wins-world-championship-title-in-italy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/550578\/","title":{"rendered":"Tauranga speed climber Mila Piatek wins world championship title in Italy"},"content":{"rendered":"

The championships were held in Arco, Italy, from July 18 to 25 and featured the world\u2019s best climbers in the under-17 and under-19 categories.<\/p>\n

Competitors race up a standardised 15m wall<\/a> fitted with 20 handholds and 11 footholds.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just tell people that it\u2019s climbing up a wall as fast as you can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mila, a Year 11 student at Mount Maunganui College, said the moment she realised she had become a world champion was \u201csurreal\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just so overcome with emotion; I\u2019ve never been speechless before, because I\u2019m a very chatty person, but I was genuinely speechless.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat one day was all it took for me to somehow be on top of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mila said her \u201ccompetitive\u201d nature drew her to the sport after an injury forced her to stop competitive gymnastics.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy twin brother was actually climbing at the time and he loved it. So with me being super competitive, I just decided \u2018what if I do this but better?\u2019 That\u2019s really all there was to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said once she discovered something she enjoyed and had potential in, she fully committed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I find something that I\u2019m good at, I will train hard and do anything to be better. I got hooked and stayed on it from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MilaMila broke the Oceania women’s open speed record, with a time of 7.70s. Photo \/ Italia Climbing<\/p>\n

Mila said holding the Oceania women\u2019s open speed record was \u201ccrazy\u201d as she was not yet old enough to compete in opens.<\/p>\n

She said she gained confidence with each run through the finals as the timer repeatedly flashed green, meaning she remained unbeaten.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just so happy to be there. I was prepared. I wasn\u2019t nervous, but I was level-headed, calm, composed, doing what I love, and I somehow managed to put it all together, saw that green, and started crying immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mila said breaking the record and winning the world title made her realise she could \u201chave a shot at bigger things\u201d, with her sights now set on the 2028 Olympics.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all there for me, but it just means putting in a little bit more hard work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mila\u2019s victory adds to a growing list of international successes produced through a Mount Maunganui-based speed climbing programme led by Rob Moore.<\/p>\n

She is the second Youth World Champion developed under Moore\u2019s coaching, following Julian David\u2019s under-20 world title in 2023. <\/p>\n

\"MilaMila Piatek trains with the Bay of Plenty Sport Climbing Association. Photo \/ Brydie Thompson<\/p>\n

The programme has also helped develop New Zealand Olympians, like David<\/a>, and Sarah Tetzlaff, who competed at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.<\/p>\n

Moore, Climbing New Zealand\u2019s high performance director and head coach, told the Bay of Plenty Times Mila\u2019s win was \u201cpretty significant\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means a lot for us as part of our development pathway. It\u2019s the biggest title you can get for youth climbing so to win that is pretty exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said Mila \u201crose to the occasion\u201d during the competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn speed climbing, once you get to the final, it\u2019s not about running the fastest time; it\u2019s about being the most consistent and getting to the top first.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo to do that, you need to have a pretty good head, stay in control, and she was really good, kept consistent the whole way and was able to take that title.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said Mila demonstrated that hard work and consistency, supported by a wraparound programme, led to her success.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t be more proud.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kaitlyn Morrell<\/a> is a journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She has lived in the region for several years and studied journalism at Massey University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The championships were held in Arco, Italy, from July 18 to 25 and featured the world\u2019s best climbers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":550579,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[18239,104263,78,1224,43851,111,139,69,270254,25093,213,1227,2563,6202,377],"class_list":["post-550578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-championship","tag-climber","tag-in","tag-italy","tag-mila","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-piatek","tag-speed","tag-sports","tag-tauranga","tag-title","tag-wins","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=550578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/550579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}