Internationally regarded as one of the world’s most inclusive five snow sports events, Audi quattro Winter Games New Zealand attracts the world’s elite winter sports athletes including many Olympic medallists and World Champions in Freestyle Skiing, Snowboarding, Alpine Skiing, Cross-Country Skiing and Curling.

The biannual Games, taking place from 21^st – 30^th August 2015, also mark the start of the FIS Freestyle Skiing and Snowboard World Cup seasons 2015/16.

For the Freestyle Skiing events in slopestyle and halfpipe in Cardrona, there are big names starting, including halfpipe World Champion and Olympic bronze medallist Kevin Rolland (FRA), slopestyle Olympic silver medallist Devin Logan (USA), slopestyle World Champion Lisa Zimmermann (GER) and three-time World Cup winner Tiril Sjaastad Christiansen (NOR).

The schedule is as follows:

21^st August: ski halfpipe qualifiers
23^rd August: halfpipe finals
27^th August: ski slopestyle qualifiers
29^th August: ski slopestyle finals

In Snowboard, the star-studded field features the likes of Olympic halfpipe champion Iouri Podladtchikov (SUI), Olympic slopestyle champion Jamie Anderson (USA), 2014 Sochi slopestyle silver medallist Enni Rukajarvi (FIN) as well as halfpipe bronze medallist Kelly Clark (USA).

The schedule is as follows:

20^th August: snowboard slopestyle qualifiers
22^nd August: snowboard slopestyle finals
28^th August: snowboard halfpipe qualifiers
20^th August: snowboard halfpipe finals

Audi quattro Winter Games NZ CEO Arthur Klap said the FIS World Cup competitions would be a highlight of the 10-day Games: “The big events attract the biggest names and we expect record numbers to watch the finals on the mountain, on TV and online wherever they might be.”

Alpine and Cross-Country Skiing

Meanwhile, the Audi quattro Winter Games will feature slalom and giant slalom races as part of the FIS Australia-New Zealand Cup on 29^th and 30^th August at Coronet Peak. For the first time, a dual night slalom will be staged on 21^st August which will see the likes of Mikaela Shiffrin and Ted Ligety (both USA) competing.

Klap said: "To have not just one but two World Champion skiers appearing is incredible for the Games and for Alpine racing in New Zealand. We couldn’t have hoped for a better start to our inaugural Coronet Peak Night Slalom."

In addition, Cross-Country competitions as part of the FIS Australia-New Zealand Cup will be staged from 28^th – 30^th August at Snow Farm.

Source: fis-ski.com