Freeskiing: Kuzma wins in Colorado

Janina Kuzma
Janina Kuzma
Wanaka freeskier Janina Kuzma could not have asked for a better start to her northern hemisphere season.

Kuzma claimed a win in the halfpipe at the Copper Mountain Grand Prix in Colorado yesterday.

She also topped the qualifying rounds against a strong international field which included the silver and bronze medallists for women's freeski halfpipe at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Ayana Onozuka (Japan) and Marie Martinod (France).

''I'm over the moon,'' Kuzma said.

''I wanted to put down a new competition run. I did that and I'm really amped. Qualifiers were the hardest part but today there was a really good vibe.

''I was nervous to start and it showed in my first run but everything came together for the second run.''

In a new format, competitors had three - rather than two - runs to put down their highest score.

For Kuzma, the extra run made no difference, the win already in the bag with her second-run scores in both qualifying and finals.

Not to waste the victory run, however, she still decided to go big and throw down a new trick, a left 900, for the first time in competition.

Snow Sports NZ coach Tom Willmott said the competition marked a solid start to the season for the New Zealand team, and was a reward for the same high level of execution and technical difficulty that earned Kuzma fifth place in Sochi.

The Copper Grand Prix is the first stop in the US Freeskiing Grand Prix, which is classified as a world cup event by FIS and a platinum level event by the AFP.

Fellow Wanaka Olympians Beau-James and Byron Wells were also back in competition, Byron placing eighth in the final and Beau-James finishing sixth in his qualifying heat, missing out on the finals by one place.

For Byron Wells, the result marked an encouraging return to competition, following a training injury sustained in Sochi which saw him miss out on competing at the Games.

Coach and father Bruce Wells said Byron met his goal to land his competition run and would now focus on refining execution and increasing amplitude.

Gaining some valuable experience were new high performance development squad members Finn Bilous (Wanaka) and Miguel Porteous (Christchurch). Porteous placed 14th in qualifying and Bilous 16th.

Kuzma and the Wells brothers will now turn their attention to the Dew Tour mountain championships next week.

 

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