News in Brief
Ram raid charges
A 52-year-old man is due to appear in Invercargill District Court next week after being arrested following an alleged ram raid in downtown Queenstown. The man, who has been remanded in custody, has been charged with wilful damage, Intentional damage, and also possessing an offensive weapon. Witness video shows a small white Honda reversing into the BNZ Bank on Camp Street at about 11.45pm last Friday, smashing the glass frontage of the business. The vehicle then sped off before being stopped by police, using road spikes, on State Highway 6 towards Kingston.
Snow season wrap
Alpine ski racing superstar Alice Robinson wrapped up her Northern Hemisphere competition season with a seventh-place finish at the Giant Slalom World Cup finals held in Andorra. It was Queenstown 21-year-old’s equal best Giant Slalom World Cup result in almost two years. She also finished in seventh place in Are, Sweden nine days ago. Mikaela Shiffrin (US) took gold ahead of Norway’s Thea Louise Stjernesund and Canada’s Valerie Grenier. Meanwhile, decorated Kiwi Paralympian Adam Hall finished in sixth place at the Para Alpine World Cup Slalom Finals held in Cortina on Friday. The races marked the end of the Northern Hemisphere winter season.
Snow youngsters
On Saturday, Kiwi development athletes Luke Harrold (freeskier, Lake Hāwea, 14) and Cam Melville Ives (snowboarder, Wānaka, 16) both claimed the gold medal in their respective disciplines at the European Cup Premium Halfpipe competition held in Laax, while Cooper Breen (Queenstown, 13) also made the Freeski Halfpipe finals in his first European Cup halfpipe event, finishing in a respectable 7th place. In Tignes, France, Luca Harrington (Wānaka, 19) achieved a career best World Cup result, finishing in 10th place in the the FIS World Cup Slopestyle Finals, with heavily stacked field. Ruby Star Andrews (Queenstown, 18) was competing in the women’s slopestyle finals in France. Andrews was planning on a technical run that included three different 900-degree rotations on the jumps but was unable to put it down and finished in 9th place. Regardless, Andrews said: “I had one of the best trainings of my life and I am hyped.”
