Snowsports: Honours shared around nations in Treble Cone events

Guenther Birgmann
Guenther Birgmann
Two days of international ski racing at Treble Cone at the weekend attracted athletes from South Korea, the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and New Zealand, competing in slalom and giant slalom.

Korean skier Woo-Sung Kim won the slalom with two impressive runs in 1min 23.94sec. Americans Dylan Brooks (1min 26.31sec) and Erik Arvidsson (1min 26.79sec) were second and third respectively.

In the women's field, Avril Dunleavy ( US) was first in 1min 32.92sec, with New Zealand's Harriet Miller-Brown (1min 32.94sec) second and American Katie Fitzpatrick (1min 35.31sec) third.

In the giant slalom, New Zealand skier Adam Barwood claimed the men's title in 1min 40.57sec.

Koreans Woo-Sung Kim and Min-Sung Kim were not far behind.

In the women's field, Fitzpatrick claimed her second podium place with victory in 1min 45.36sec, with Miller-Brown second and Sun-Joo Kim (Korea) third.

Miller-Brown and Woo-Sung Kim won the overall male and female titles.

"Half of the podium places went to athletes from the Treble Cone Race Academy, highlighting its strength as an international academy for athletes from around the globe," academy director Guenther Birgmann said.

The FIS race starts provide registered athletes an opportunity to lower their FIS points and improve their world rankings.

The top qualifiers in the open divisions of the Billabong Slopestyle snowboard competition at the Snow Park secured the trophies after their final runs on Saturday.

Finnish snowboarder Roope Tonteri (19), the reigning European Open champion, defeated a field of more than 50 international riders, while two-time Ticket to Ride world champion Jamie Anderson (20), of the US, comfortably won the open women's event.

The slopestyle contest was the second stop on the 2011-12 Ticket to Ride world tour and the first of its kind on the global calendar since the International Olympic Committee executive board confirmed the discipline for the 2014 Winter Olympics.

All competitors earned points towards a new world ranking system at the event.

Wanaka snowboarder Milu Multhaup-Appleton was the only New Zealander to qualify for the men's final and finished seventh with 73.60 points.

Wanaka's Zoi Sadowski-Synnott was second in the junior girls event.

Most of the athletes, including Tonteri and Anderson, intend to compete at the New Zealand Snowboarding Open this week.

Head judge Sandy Macdonald said the level of riding was "pretty amazing" considering the competitors had not had much time on snow and many had just arrived in New Zealand.

The conditions on Saturday were challenging.

The new snow was slow and the wind was variable, Macdonald said.

 

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