Winter Games: Wells keen for shot at half pipe

Leading New Zealand freeskier Jossi Wells hopes to bounce back from injury to shine in the Winter Games freeski halfpipe at Cardrona Alpine Resort tomorrow.

The 2008 world superpipe champion and New Zealand's only Winter X Games medallist was originally one of four pre-qualified freeskiers set to advance straight to the halfpipe finals.

The other pre-qualified skiers were Wells' younger brother, Byron (17), also of Wanaka, Winter X Games freeski halfpipe champion Xavier Bertoni and Kevin Rolland, both of France.

The cancellation of yesterday's skier cross at Cardrona forced some rescheduling, with the skier cross pushed to today and the freeski halfpipe to be run tomorrow.

Wells (19) injured his right knee, aggravating an ongoing patella tendon problem, as he tried to claim an early win for New Zealand in the slopestyle at the Remarkables on Saturday.

He finished second in the event after crashing on his final run while trying for an ambitious double back-flip on his last air at the Remarkables course, which many of the international competitors have described as "small", "slow", and "unusual".

Wells has spent the last week recuperating as he eyes the halfpipe event at Cardrona, his home field, where he claimed his maiden halfpipe win in the New Zealand Freeski Open last Friday.

"I've been having physio every day and [my knee is] feeling 100% better than after last Saturday's slopestyle.

"I couldn't even walk after that," Wells said.

The teenager's knees have given him trouble for the past four years and he takes anti-inflammatory medication every time he skis to dull the jarring effects of landing huge aerial jumps.

"They're [knees] pretty shot.

"But these kind of injuries are all part of our sport," Wells said.

He was confident and looking forward to contesting his last competitive event of the New Zealand winter in front of a home crowd.

Wells is not the only athlete to battle through injury to take their place against the world's best at the Games.

Leading New Zealand halfpipe snowboarder Mitchell Brown, of Wanaka, competed in Cardrona's 6.7m-high superpipe in gale-force winds, rain and a blizzard on Tuesday with seven screws and three steel plates holding a broken wrist together.

Brown came off morphine only three days before the Games to compete through the pain, his father, Jamie, told the Otago Daily Times.

The 2006 Winter Olympian broke bones in his wrist when he crashed out in the Cardrona halfpipe during a training run for the semifinals of the New Zealand Burton Open.

Brown had decided to compete at the Games because the FIS World Cup halfpipe event counts towards qualifications for February's Winter Olympics in Vancouver, his father said.