Winter Games in Neuseeland 2019

03.09.2019 – Das Remarkables Skigebiet in Queenstown war der Austragungsort des North Face Frontier Freeride World Qualifier 4* Event. Snowboarder und Skifahrer aus der ganzen Welt stürzten sich den Alta Chutes hinunter und zeigten ihr Können. Die Runs waren gespickt mit Freeride Style und Freestyle Tricks vom Feinsten.

New Zealand’s Freeride elite grows at The North Face Frontier Freeride World Qualifier 4*
The Remarkables, New Zealand (2 September 2019) – A world-class international field dropped into the Alta Chutes today at The North Face Frontier Freeride World Qualifier 4* at The Remarkables ski field in Queenstown. Kiwi Freeride Skier Jess Hotter from Ohakune NZ, topped the women’s ski field with strong confident skiing and clean features making her run impossible to top. The 26-year-old ski patroller won this competition last year, which set her up well for the Freeride World Qualifier Tour 2018. “After the 4* here the rest of the season in Europe went really well and I made it onto the Freeride World Tour (FWT), which was really cool. That is the highest level of competition in the world of freeride and in the next Northern Hemisphere season I will travel around the world competing on it. It’s going to be a big season!” said a stoked Hotter. “I decided to switch it up a bit this year here, so I tested my abilities and my strength of will I guess and I am definitely really stoked with the result!” It was a Swedish second and third in the women’s ski with Eva Battolla and Sybille Blanjean showing their form on the technical face.
New Zealander’s filled the men’s ski podium with Jamesa Hampton from Canterbury winning with what the judges and commentators called a complete run; with traditional freeride style, big technical skiing and a progressive freestyle run. The 23-year-old who is currently ranked 21st on the Freeride World Qualifier said, “I am absolutely stoked, it was a little bit sketchy. I would like to be more in control, but everything came together. I came down and managed to keep it under control into the lake and bringing it to the finish line.”
FWT Skier and NZ Freeride Team Hank Bilous member came in second with a smart, big skiing on his come-back run from injury and showed his unique style. Craig Murray from Christchurch, the top ranked freerider in the competition came in third. Craig made his way through the ranks of the New Zealand Junior Freeride Tour, the Freeride World Junior Tour and the Freeride World Qualifier Tour (FWQ), qualifying to compete on the 2018 Freeride World Tour (FWT) where he claimed two podium finishes.
Spanish snowboarder Nuria Castán Barón who won this event last year showed off her skills when she came off the top of the Alta Chutes hot, attacking the cliff and pushing the size of drops which snowboarders normally attempt at this venue. “I’m pretty stoked to land the big cliff I did in the middle, it was kind of sketchy and the take-off was really sharky. I stomped it (clean landing) and in these conditions I couldn’t be anymore happy.”
Kiwi snowboarder Claire McGregor came in second, with Mikaela Hollste the 31- year-old from Finland rounding out the podium.
American snowboarder Blake Moller opened with a large freestyle trick and finished with solid and fast freeride style to gain him the top rank amongst the stacked field. “It was so fun and the conditions are awesome. There is nothing like it!”
Cody Bramwell from Sweden who is currently ranked third on the FWQ and won this event last year (4) came second and previous 4 winner Roland Morley-Brown from New Zealand came third.

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28.08.19 – Die Winter Games in Neuseeland sind bereits in vollem Gange und die ersten Sieger des internationalen Multisportevents wurden bereits gekürt. Heute fanden die FIS Australia New Zealand Cup Freeski & Snowboard Finals statt und die Athleten zeigten ihr Können im Slopestyle. Snowboarder und Freeskier aus der ganzen Welt fuhren in Cadrona um die Podestplätze.
Die Winter Games New Zealand finden vom 23. August – 7. September statt.

Three New Zealanders on the Podium at the Winter Games NZ ANC Freeski
Slopestyle Finals
Cardrona, New Zealand (1 September 2019) – Finals day brought a spectacular showdown at the FIS Australia New Zealand Cup Freeski & Snowboard Slopestyle presented by Cardrona Alpine Resort today with three NZ Freeskiers making the podium. Ben Barclay (Auckland) claimed the win in Men’s Freeski. Ruby Andrews (Queenstown) finished second in Women’s Freeski, and Luca Harrington (Wanaka) third in Men’s Freeski.

Ben Barclay was never in doubt for a podium placing as soon as he had the first run on the scoreboard, taking the lead right from the get-go with a score of 87.33.
Scoring highly for the difficulty and variety of his rail tricks and then backing up with well-executed and technical jump tricks, the win was his for the taking.
“I’m over the moon with the win,” said Ben after the competition. “It was a long road after that high score being on my first run, I was pretty anxious throughout but overall I couldn’t ask for a better result.”
With three ANC podium placings this season (including first and second in Freeski Big Air) the 17-year-old is well set for the upcoming Northern Hemisphere season.
Taisei Yamamoto (JPN) also had a high scoring first run with a technical rail section and big clean grabs on his jumps but lost points for a small bobble on the rails and finished his day in second place.
A delighted Luca Harrington (Wanaka) claimed “the biggest result I’ve ever had”, finishing in third. “I’m in shock, I’m in disbelief, I’m just so happy right now,” he said after the competition.
Although not quite the run he had in mind, Luca scored 80.66 on run one and upped that to 83.00 on run two, finishing with a huge switch left double cork 1080 safety.
Ruby Andrews backed up her qualifying result to finish in second place in today’s Women’s Freeski finals. Ruby landed her top score on her third run, showing well- executed rail tricks, and making an impressive come back from a crash on hersecond run.
“It was pretty nerve-wracking but I just got out there and stomped it,” said Ruby.
Eileen Gu was the deserved winner, getting solid grabs on every spin and demonstrating solid trick execution throughout her run. An 88.33 on her first run of the day was enough to seal the win.

“I think today it came down to style and consistency. I was really focusing on trying to make everything clean, everything grabbed and I think that worked out well for me,” said Eileen after the competition.
Australia’s Abi Harrigan jumped up in to third place on her very last run by adding a 720 as her second jump trick and being duly rewarded with an increased score.
One of the most experienced athletes in the competition and celebrating her 26th birthday today, World Cup ranked number two Silje Norendal landed three solid runs in the Women’s Snowboard, saving her best for last with a winning score of 95.33 on run three.
“I had a lot of fun on my last run and fun riding with all these girls. Second place is eleven years younger than me!” laughed Silje after the competition, going on to congratulate second-place-getter Melissa Peperkamp (NED) on her strong riding and the stomped 720 at the end of her run.
Melissa was on impressive form all morning, landing three good runs and earning her place on the podium with her second run. She said that she was “very happy” with her result.
Third place on the women’s Snowboard Slopestyle podium went to the FIS Junior World Champion, Sommer Gendron (CAN) who kept her calm after bobbles on her first two runs, finally stomping her 720 on the last jump of her third run.
The men’s competition saw a few shuffles in the rankings before the final podium placings were locked in. Hiroaki Kumitake (JPN) set the bar with a first run score of 92.33 but countryman Ryoma Kimata went one better, coming back from a crash on his first run to land 93.33 on his second run and jump in to first place.
Easing back in to his first competition since March 2018, Norway’s Torgeir Bergrem “just tried to keep it clean and not do the most technical run but make it look really smooth.” He was happy enough to get a solid first run down for a score of 87.00 but was looking to step up on his next two runs.
Unable to do so, he held on to third place while the rest of the field took their third runs, with the expectation that top-place-getter Matty Cox (AUS) would come through and knock him out of the top three.
But today simply wasn’t Matty’s day, with uncharacteristic slip ups on the rails on his first two runs and a hand down on the second jump of his third run it was “a rough day in the office” and he would finish 10th, with Torgeir claiming third.
The day didn’t go quite how NZ athlete Mitchell Davern (NZL) would have hoped.
Qualifying top of his heat in yesterday’s competition, Mitchell got his first run down clean but needed a big step up to lift his score of 74.66 to match the podium. He couldn’t execute and finished his day in seventh.

Women Snowboard

1. Silje Norendal NOR. Boardslide to fakie, switch 50/50 to forward, switch back 540 indy, frontside 540 indy, cab 900 mute
2. Melissa Peperkamp. NED. Blunt 270 out, front lipslide, 50/50 front 10 out, cab 540 mute, backside 360 mute, frontside 720 indy
3. Sommer Gendron. CAN 50/50 backside 180 out, half cab to 50/50, 50/50 frontside 180 out, cab 540 mute, frontside 360 stale, backside 720 mute

Men Snowboard

1. Ryoma Kimata JPN 50/50 to boardslide 270 out, front 180 on cab 360 out, cab 180 on back 360 off, cab 900 underflip, back 1080 indy, front 1400 triple mute
2. Hiroaki Kunitake JPN. cab 270 270 out, blunt 270 out, 50/50 backside 360, front double 1080 mute, back 1260 melon, cab 1440 double grabbed
3. Torgeir Bergrem NOR. Blunt to pretzel out, cab 270 boardslide, switch blunt 270 out, cab double undeflip 900, frontside 1080 indy, backside 1260 mose grab

Women Freeski

1. Eileen Gu – switch on right back 270 out. Gap to downrail, left front 450 tail, left flat 540 mute, switch left 540 tail, right 720 tail run one
2. Ruby Andrews – left front 450, straight slide on downflat, right back 450, switch right 720, switch left 540, left 540 mute. Run 3
3. Abi Harrigan – run 3. Straight slide Japan, right slide on downflat, front 270 off cannon, switch left 540, left 720, right 360.

Men Freeski

1.Ben Barclay NZL – switch left 270 pretzel 450 out, right 270 continuing 270, switch on left front 450 safety, left double 1080 mute, right double 1260 safety, switch left double 1260 safety
2. Hiroaki Kunitake JPN. cab 270 270 out, blunt 270 out, 50/50 backside 360, front double 1080 mute, back 1260 melon, cab 1440 double grabbed
3.Torgeir Bergrem NOR. Blunt to pretzel out, cab 270 boardslide, switch blunt 270 out, cab double undeflip 900, frontside 1080 indy, backside 1260 mose grab

Heute 29.08.2019) fanden die FIS Australia New Zealand Cup Freeski & Snowboard Finals statt und die Athleten zeigten ihr Können in der Halfpipe. Snowboarder und Freeskier aus der ganzen Welt fuhren in Cadrona um die Podestplätze.

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