Career-best World Cup finish for Kiwi freeskier Luca Harrington
Freeskier Luca Harrington has finished in fourth place in an incredibly heavy hitting FIS Slopestyle World Cup over the weekend, marking a career best performance for the young Kiwi.
Right after the event the Wānaka 19 -year-old said: “Honestly, it’s amazing, I am unbelievably happy to have finished in fourth place. I can’t believe I am even here skiing against some of these guys that I have looked up to my whole life, now to be here with them and contending with them is pretty amazing.”
In what was a stacked final, consisting of the majority of the world’s best slopestyle skiers, Harrington laced together a technical first run scoring an impressive 92.00. His run included a textbook left double 1440 safety grab into a right double 1800 lead stale grab on the second and third jumps.
Harrington then had a nail-biting wait, sitting in podium position for just over half the competition. With just a few skiers left to drop into their final runs, Harrington got bumped down into fourth position by two decorated skiers.
Evan McEachran (Canada), five-time World Cup podium finisher and Birk Ruud (Norway), seven-time slopestyle World Cup winner, both posted scores that were just slightly higher than Harrington's 92.00.
Jesper Tjader of Sweden took the top spot, with McEachran in second and Ruud rounding out the podium in third.
Luca Harrington immediately after his career best fourth place finish at the FIS Slopestyle World Cup in Silvaplana. Photo: Snow Sports NZ
Harrington’s teammate Ruby Star Andrews (Queenstown, 18) was competing in the women’s Slopestyle finals in Silvaplana, finishing in a very respectable ninth position.
Andrews said: "I am happy with my second run, it’s nice to put down a run at the final competition of the season. The level was super high, all the girls killed it and I am happy to have made finals landed a solid run.”
This marks the end of a monumental competition season for Harrington and Andrews, who both recorded career best performances at both World Cup and World Championship level this Northern Hemisphere season.
Luca Harrington 4th place run:
YouTubeMeanwhile, just over the border in Austria, Kiwi Para Alpine Ski Racer Adam Hall was competing in his final race of the season, the European Cup Slalom Finals, where he claimed the silver medal. A fantastic achievement from Hall, considering they were racing in challenging spring like conditions today (CET).
Finn Bilous was set to drop into the Freeride World Tour Verbier Extreme finals today, but unfortunately, they were thwarted with poor weather and low visibility. The organisers will aim to hold the event in the coming week.
In Austria on Friday, Kiwi Snow Sports NZ Development athletes continued to shine on the world stage, with the snowboarders claiming two gold medals and a silver medal at the World Rookie Tour Halfpipe and Slopestyle finals.
Cam Melville Ives (Wānaka, 16) started the podium streak, claiming the gold medal in the Snowboard Halfpipe finals with a phenomenal score of 95.33. Melville Ives landed a solid run that included back-to-back double cork 1080s on his first two hits.
Melville Ives was stoked with his performance, saying: “Winning World Rookie Tour really means a lot to me, it’s a really cool event with all your friends. I really enjoyed riding at Kitzsteinhorn, it has a really nice pipe, and it was awesome to land the winning run on my first run as it removed the pressure for me.”
Melville Ives had a career first in his second run, landing a frontside double cork 1260 for the first time in competition. Although a bobble on his first hit meant his second run didn’t score higher than his first run, it was a fantastic achievement to land that trick.
Cam Melville Ives winning run:
Ava Beer (Te Anau, 14) finished in silver medal position in the women’s snowboard halfpipe event in the Groms division with a solid performance. Beer said: “It feels awesome to podium at World Rookie Tour today, I’m hyped to land my runs in the pipe, especially stomping my back-to-back 360s!”
After a successful morning for the NZ team in the halfpipe, Lucia Georgalli (Wānaka, 16) showed that the Kiwi talent is just as dominant on the slopestyle course, securing the gold medal in the afternoon.
Lucia Georgalli in action at the World Rookie Tour Finals. Photo: World Rookie Tour
Georgalli, who came into this event off the back of her first European Cup podium just six days ago, dominated the field from the first run of finals.
Georgalli explained, “I am very happy that I won today. My highlights from my run were landing my front 720 and back 720. The vibe here today was awesome, and the quality of the field was good. All the riders were throwing down really good tricks.”
Lucia Georgalli's winning run:
