Wanaka-based adaptive skier Adam Hall has made a promising start to his season, winning the standing slalom event at the Winter Games yesterday.
Hall, who won gold in the slalom at the 2010 Winter Paralympics, was more than 4sec quicker than his nearest rival across the two runs at Coronet Peak.
''It was a good way to get the Winter Games kicked off,'' he said.
''It is early season ... and we're just trying to bring what we've been doing in training into the race environment and I think we did that pretty successfully [yesterday].''
Hall completed his first run in 38.13sec, just under 2sec quicker than Australian Mitchell Gourley.
The second run was a straighter and quicker track and Hall finished in 36.10sec for a combined time of 1min 14.23sec.
Gourley was second in 1min 18.23sec and United States skier James Stanton third in 1min 18.51sec.
''To be honest, I thought it would be a bit tighter. I thought he [Gourley] would be snapping at my heels a little bit more. But I'm pleased with the result, for sure.
''For a lot of those guys, it is still early days for them.''
Hall enjoyed the conditions at Coronet Peak.
''The track was really good and held up really well. We were lucky with the weather. Just as the last run finished, some snow came in.''
Hall will be competing again on Thursday, and in November he will head to Colorado to continue his preparations for the world cup events which get under way in the new year.
Fellow New Zealand skier Corey Peters, ranked 15th in the world, chased American Tyler Walker, the world No 12, in the sitting slalom category yesterday but had to be content with second.
Peters clocked 1min 17.71sec, and Walker put down the two fastest runs for a combined time of 1min 14.80sec.
Peters, who won silver in the giant slalom at the Sochi Paralympics, said slalom was still a work in progress for him. While he was happy to take silver, mistakes in both runs cost him.
''You can't afford to make mistakes like that,'' Peters said.
Walker, who made headlines with a serious crash during the Sochi Paralympics downhill that led to him being airlifted to hospital, was pleased to repeat his winning effort from the 2013 Winter Games.
''I love being back at Coronet Peak and it's nice to have a proper winter in the middle of my summer, particularly with the good quality snow that's here at the moment,'' Walker said.
The men's visually impaired category was won by young Australian Patrick Jensen and guide Kirsty O'Sullivan. South Korean paralympian Jae Rim Yang and guide Un So Ri Ko won the women's race ahead of American Danielle Umstead, who competed alongside husband Robert.
Melanie Schwartz (US) won the women's standing gold medal, heading off team mate and world No 3 Stephanie Jallen, who fell on her first run.
American Paralympian Laurie Stephens, ranked No 5 in the world, was the sole women's sitting slalom competitor and posted a time of 1min 31.18sec.
Meanwhile, both New Zealand sides made winning starts to the mixed curling competition in Naseby.
The young New Zealand 1 side of Eleanor Adviento and Brett Sargon capitalised on some early misses by Australia 1 to score four points in the first end, and went on to record an 11-2 win in the opening group A encounter.
The New Zealand 2 team held a 4-0 lead over Finland by the fourth end break, but the Finns came levelled the scores with two ends to play. A score of three in the next made the game safe for New Zealand, which won 8-4.
