Kiwi athletes shine at FIS ANC Slopestyle Competition
Kiwi athletes had a successful day at the first FIS Australia New Zealand Cup Slopestyle event of the season, held at The Remarkables Ski Area on Saturday.
Beijing 2022 Winter Olympian Cool Wakushima (Queenstown, 21) took out the women’s snowboard division, with an impressive score of 92.67. Wakushima’s run included lacing together a technical frontside 720 into a backside 900 on the jumps to claim the top spot.
After the event Wakushima says: “It’s been eight months since I last competed, I am feeling really good and I was looking forward to feeling those competition butterflies again. The girls were crushing it today, the level of riding was really high despite challenging conditions."
Seung Eun Yu of Korea finished in second place, with local athlete Lucia Georgalli (Wānaka, 16) continuing her string of excellent results, rounding out the women’s snowboard podium in third.
Kiwi athletes also claimed first and third place in the women’s freeski division, with Madeleine Disbrowe (Queenstown, 15) taking the win. Her run included a right cork 720 with a lead tail grab on the second jump, marking the first time Disbrowe has landed this trick in a slopestyle competition.
Disbrowe says: "It feels unreal, but really good, to take the win today. I am stoked to land the right cork 720 for the first time in a slopestyle competition. My next competition is the FIS Park and Pipe Junior World Champs in a couple of weeks, I am really excited about that."
Nanaho Kiriyama of Japan finished in second place, with Wānaka’s Sylvia Trotter (15) finishing in third position.
Zephyr Lovelock (Auckland, 18) was the only Kiwi male to finish on the podium in the hotly contested freeski and snowboard divisions today. Lovelock finished in third place in the men’s snowboard division.
The men’s snowboard podium was completed by Dongheon Lee of Korea in first place and Oliver Martin of the USA in second place.
The men’s freeski podium was an international affair, with Kai Martin of Australia taking the win, Luke Votaw of the USA in second place and Manatsu Sato of Japan rounding out the podium in third.
The next event of the 2023 FIS Australia New Zealand Cup series will be held at Cardrona from the 28 September as part of the Cardrona Freestyle Nationals. The winner of each division of the series will receive a personal FIS World Cup spot for the upcoming 2023/24 season.
