New Zealand's Winter Olympics team will be announced in
mid-January, less than one month before the team competes in
the Vancouver event from February 12-28.
A large group of Otago-based snowboarders and freeskiers are
in the United States, aiming to qualify.
The snowboard halfpipe team spent last week at Copper
Mountain, Colorado, competing at the US Grand Prix event.
Competition was stiff, with the US and other international
teams using is for team selection.
The gold medallists were Kelly Clark (women) and Shaun White
(men).
None of the New Zealanders made it into the semifinals.
Juliane Bray and Rebecca Sinclair completed their halfpipe
runs in 16th and 17th place, respectively, while the injured
Kendall Brown was 25th and Paula Mitchell 34th.
Mitchell Brown displayed an encouraging return to form after
recent injuries and won his heat in the men's halfpipe.
He finished 37th in the field of 90 male competitors.
Ben Stewart was 32nd and James Hamilton was 47th.
This week the snowboard team joined the freeski national team
at Breckenridge for the first stop of the Winter Dew Tour.
The competition began on Thursday and finals are on this
weekend.
Among those competing are Wanaka's Wells brothers, Jossi,
Byron and Beau, Stef Zeestraten, Jake Koia and Shelly
Gotlieb.
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