Over the weekend the Freeski Open of NZ Slopestyle and Halfpipe took over the Cardrona Snowpark.
The competitions were an opportunity for athletes to bag AFP World Tour points as well as to test out their trick repertoire ahead of the International Ski Federation (FIS) World Cup events being staged in a few weeks’ time as part of the Audi quattro Winter Games NZ.
Pipe competition got underway at Cardrona Alpine Resort on Sunday with skiers from New Zealand, USA, Japan and The Netherlands competing in the 22ft Olympic superpipe.
Last of the female skiers to drop into the pipe and showcasing a brand new competition run, Janina Kuzma looked like she had the win in the bag right from the start. Increasing her spin rotation from her tried and tested 540 to the new 720 and adding a switch (backwards) hit in the middle of the pipe, Janina posted a first run score of 88.25 from a possible 100 points.
Ayana Onozuka came out looking determined on her first run, gaining huge amplitude out of the pipe on her first hit but giving herself a fright in the process, losing her control and coming away with a score of 38.25. Her second run had the control and good technical tricks to bring her score up to 82 points but this still wasn’t enough to beat a hard charging Janina Kuzma.
Keeping consistently high amplitude and changing the grabs on her second run Janina was able to push her score up to 90 points for the win. Ayana Onozuka finished in second place and Saori Suzuki (JPN) in third.
In the men’s field Taylor Seaton came into his first run looking strong and set the high score of 87.75 for the first round. Beau-James Wells (Wanaka) followed behind, starting with a big first hit but crashed out on his second trick.
Knowing that he had two more chances to nail his high score Beau came back strong on the second run, landing the only double of the competition to bump his score up to 92.75. However, Taylor Seaton had also upped his game on his second run, adding in a switch right 900 blunt trick to push his own score up to 95.75.
With Finn Bilous (Wanaka) also putting together some technical runs and sitting on a high score of 89.50 and Japanese skier Soshi Utagawa on 78.50 there was a definite promise of a spectacular third run.
Soshi came through with a huge finale bumping his score to 90.5, enough for third place but not to pass Taylor Seaton in first and Beau-James Wells in second. Finn Bilous finished in fourth.
“This is my fifth podium here at The North Face Freeski Open of NZ, I can’t believe it,” commented Taylor.
The North Face® Freeski Open of New Zealand Park and Pipe competition wrapped up at Cardrona Alpine Resort today with a spectacular showdown in the men’s slopestyle final. Top qualifier, NZ’s Jossi Wells battled hard for the win but James Woods of the UK was on supreme form and snatched a close victory.
“It was head to head the whole way through, right from qualifiers,” explains James ‘Woodsy’ Woods who qualified second behind Jossi Wells in Friday’s opening event.
Following two days of cold temperatures and poor visibility, competition day dawned clear and calm for today’s finals. Competition format allowed each rider three runs to impress the judges, with the top score counting for their final result.
Eager to back up his 2014 Freeski Open of NZ slopestyle title, James ‘Woodsy’ Woods came out firing with a first run score of 93.50. But with Jossi Wells also looking hungry for the win there would be no chance to relax until all three runs were in the bag. With the first round complete, Jossi’s first run score of 89.75 had him sitting a close second with Switzerland’s Elias Ambühl sitting third on 84.50.
On the second run Jossi and Elias both lifted their game, Jossi bringing his score up to 91.50 and Elias to 86.75, closing the gap on the Englishman but not enough to change the pecking order.
A stumble on his third run would stop Elias Ambühl from improving his score any further but his second run performance with two linked double 1260s would be enough for third place.
Coming into his third run Jossi Wells signaled that the top step of the podium was still the goal, attacking the top rail section and making creative use of four features where every other competitors only used three. Landing three different doubles on the jump features, Jossi’s stylish final run gave him his top score of the day of 92.50.
“I knew that Jossi had a mega run in the bank and we were pushing each other harder and harder,” explains Woodsy.
With the pressure on, Woodsy knew that nothing short of an immaculate final run would be enough to secure the win and made the call to up the technicality of his rail tricks before signing off with three huge hits off the jumps. His score of 94.00 was the best of the day and the podium was decided: James Woods first, Jossi Wells second, Elias Ambühl third.
The women’s event was contested by two athletes from the USA. After losing a ski on her first run and having to make a safety call to ski out of the course on her second, Keri Herman made a late bid for the win, scoring 71.75 on her third run ahead of Jackie Kling with 68 points.
Source: fis-ski.com
