Snowsports: Griffin excels on Coronet Peak slopes

New Zealand skier Ben Griffin excelled to finish second in the Southern Cup giant slalom race at Coronet Peak near Queenstown today.

It was the best placing for a New Zealander in an International Ski Federation (FIS) world-ranking race since Simon Wi Rutene achieved a similar result in 1990.

American Will Gregorak won the race, with Griffin holding on to second ahead of two more Americans in in Warner Nickerson and David Chodounsky.

Griffin's performance is expected to see him edge inside the top 125 on the world's alpine ski racing rankings.

"I'm very stoked with today's result," Griffin, of Ohakune, said.

"I made a few mistakes up the top of the run but I carried a lot of speed into the bottom."

Leading results:-

Men: Will Gregorak (US) 1, Ben Griffin (NZ) 2, Warner Nickerson (US) 3. Also: Tim Cafe (NZ) 19.

Women: Christina Geiger (Germany) 1, Fanny Chmelar (Germany) 2, Elena Prosteva (Russia) 3. Also: Sarah Jarvis (NZ) 6.