Double gold for Kiwi alpine ski racer

Auckland teenager Mikayla Smyth claimed two alpine ski racing gold medals at New Zealand’s home of alpine ski racing, Coronet Peak on Thursday.

Smyth, 18, was crowned the New Zealand National Slalom Champion, along with winning the overall FIS category at the same race.

Smyth says: "It feels really great, I am really stoked with just how I put it down on the hill today. It was a really great race run by amazing volunteers.

"I finished in second place last year at the National Slalom Champs and it has really pushed me to want to be better, to crawl up the ranks and put some good skiing out there."

The women’s National Slalom Championship podium was rounded out by Ruby Fullerton (Nelson, 17) in second place and Zoe Parr (New Plymouth, 16) in third place.

Queenstown-based 2018 Winter Olympian Willis Feasey (Twizel, 30) claimed the men’s New Zealand National Slalom title, reconfirming his status as one of New Zealand’s strongest male skiers of the last decade.

Feasey says: "I just tried to hit the top of the turn as hard as possible and generate as much speed as I could. It’s cool to come up and ski with the younger generation of Kiwi ski racers, hopefully I can share a thing or two with them because we have some great younger skiers coming up the ranks."

Feasey was joined on the National Slalom Championship podium by Alec Jackson (Whangarei, 18) in second place and Calder Bain (Wānaka, 20) in third place.

Willis Feasey in action. Photo: Ross Mackay / Snow Sports NZ

Thursday’s race marked the first time in over 15 years a FIS sanctioned race has been held on the ProAm slope. ProAm adds a degree of technicality to the racecourse, with multiple fall lines and pitch changes occurring throughout the course, requiring the athletes to be precision perfect. It also crossed under the Coronet Express chairlift, allowing skiers and snowboarders to spectate and enjoy the event from above.

The New Zealand Alpine National Championships continued on Saturday with the Giant Slalom race set to be held on The Hurdle at Coronet Peak.