Let the Games begin!
The biggest snow sports event in the Southern Hemisphere is primed to run from this Friday 23 August, in Queenstown Lakes.
Winter Games NZ and its ski resort partners will be hosting 10 events across Freeride, Alpine and Park and Pipe at The Remarkables Ski Area, Coronet Peak and Cardrona Alpine Resort.
Hundreds of snowsports athletes are set to compete, including some of the very best in the world, with several Olympic gold medallists and world champions sharing the slopes with young stars.
"It’s going to be an exceptional two and half weeks of snow sports action!" a Games spokesperson says.
The Games kicks off with the much anticipated The North Face Frontier 2* and 4* Freeride World Qualifier events at The Remarkables.
The North Face Frontier 2* is a key stop on the freeride pathway here in New Zealand, with 120 athletes set to compete. The North Face Frontier 4* has launched many Kiwi freeride careers globally and boasts a full start list of 60 athletes set to battle it out for valuable Freeride World Qualifier points, including New Zealand’s very own Jess Hotter.
The action will then head across the Whakatipu Basin to Coronet Peak, where two FIS Australia New Zealand Cup Giant Slalom and two FIS Australia New Zealand Cup Slalom races will be held at NZ’s home of Alpine Ski Racing.
More than 140 athletes from around the globe expected to don the Winter Games NZ pink Alpine bibs, including Kiwi alpine ski racing superstar Alice Robinson, double Olympic gold medalist Austrian-Dutch ski racer Marcel Hirscher, and 2023 FIS Slalom crystal globe winner Norwegian-Brazilian ski racer Lucas Braathen.
The 2024 Park & Pipe programme at Cardrona Alpine Resort includes two FIS Australia New Zealand Cup (ANC) Premium events and two FIS World Cup events presented by La Roche Posay and Cardrona Alpine Resort.
The FIS ANC Snowboard Halfpipe and Freeski Slopestyle events are crucial competitions for Kiwi and Australian athletes looking to secure the ANC series win and earn themselves a personal World Cup start for the upcoming 2025 FIS World Cup season.
Preliminary entries in the snowboard halfpipe include Gangwon 2024 Youth Olympic Winter Games medallists Lucia Georgalli and Campbell Melville Ives, both of New Zealand. In the slopestyle we expect to see Gangwon 2024 Youth Olympic Winter Games gold medallist Flora Tabanelli of Italy and 2024 World Cup podium athletes Ruby Star Andrews and Luca Harrington of New Zealand.
The Park & Pipe FIS World Cup programme consists of a Snowboard Slopestyle World Cup and Freeski Halfpipe World Cup. These World Cup events mark the first time a FIS World Cup has been held on New Zealand snow since 2019. They also mark the first opportunity for athletes to earn Olympic qualification points towards the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympic Winter Games.
The FIS Snowboard Slopestyle World Cup will welcome 90 of the top snowboard slopestyle athletes in the world, set to battle it out on Cardrona’s Big Bucks Terrain Park.
Expect to see local legend Zoi Sadowski-Synnott in action, alongside Beijing 2022 Big Air gold medalist Anna Gasser of Austria and current World Champion Mia Brookes of Great Britain. In the men’s competition Beijing 2022 gold medalist Su Yiming of China and current World Champion Marcus Kleveland of Norway will be dropping in, as part of a stacked field.
The 2024 Winter Games NZ programme will wrap up with the FIS Freeski Halfpipe World Cup, where Wānaka’s Nico Porteous, Beijing 2022 Olympic gold medalist and China’s Eileen Gu, Beijing 2022 triple Olympic medalist, will compete alongside current World Champion Brendan Mackay (CAN), double Olympic medalist Cassie Sharpe (CAN) and decorated Estonian skier Kelly Sildaru.
Livestreams
Winter Games NZ will be providing livestreams for all Alpine Ski Races (thanks to our partners at Queenstown Alpine Ski Team) and for the World Cup Qualification and Finals. All livestreams are available on the Winter Games NZ website domestically and the World Cup finals will be available on SKY.
Winter Games NZ 2024 Entries:
- FIS Australia New Zealand Cup Alpine races – 140+ Athletes
- FIS ANC Premium Events – 90 Athletes
- FIS Snowboard Slopestyle World Cup – 95 Athletes (FULL)
- FIS Freeski Halfpipe World Cup – 72 Athletes
- The North Face Frontier 2* - 120 Athletes (FULL)
- The North Face Frontier 4* - 60 Athletes (FULL)
To view the full programme click here. Winter Games NZ events are free of charge to attend as spectators, and there will be extensive digital coverage via the Games' social media channels and website www.wintergamesnz.kiwi.
