Fizzing. That is how James Woods summed things up after winning the freestyle slopestyle world cup event at Cardrona yesterday.
The 23-year-old from the United Kingdom produced two brilliant runs to beat a field which included eight of the top-ranked freestyle skiers in the world. Woods, who grew up in Sheffield, England, and did not ski on real snow until he was 15, said it was just a pleasure to see his name on the start list, let alone win.
''I was reading the start list to my friends at dinner and it just sounded like a joke,'' he said.
''It just sounded like the world rankings.''
Woods scored 90.20 in his first run, and scored less than 90 (88) only on the third jump of the course. Despite no-one in the 10-strong field seriously threatening him after the first of three runs, he stepped things up a notch to score a scorching 93.40 in his second effort.
''The guys in every competition are too good. I just respect them far, far too much to even consider taking it easy,'' he said after taking gold. With the wind increasing as the event went on, the pressure was on to land a couple of good scores in the first two runs, Woods said. He had the win in the bag before his third and final run, and said the wind affected him on his final run, which scored 59.40. A few months ago, Woods did not even think he would be competing at the Winter Games, after he ''blew out a ligament'' in his ankle while training. Woods, who bases himself in Wanaka during the New Zealand winter, plans to go to Australia for a few competitions in the next couple of weeks.
''Then I will be back at Cardrona until they kick me out,'' he said. Oystein Braaten, of Norway, never got going in his first couple of runs, but finished with a scintillating run to score 89.90 and snare silver.
Joss Christensen, of the United States, scored 87.20 to win bronze ahead of local Josh Wells, who scored 87.00 in his final and best run.
''I just messed up the second rail, didn't quite slide through the end, but the rest of the run felt great,'' Wells said immediately after finding out his final score. A disappointed Wells pulled out halfway through his first run (17.40), before improving to score 69.00 with his second attempt. Despite failing to win a medal, Wells said the Winter Games had been ''really awesome'' for winter sports in New Zealand.
The snowboard halfpipe finals have been brought forward to today due to potentially adverse weather tomorrow.
Olympic medallists Iouri Podladtchikov, of Switzerland, and Kelly Clark, of United States, qualified first for the men's and women's finals respectively.
Podladtchikov, who is known for his amplitude and style in the pipe, put down a first run which earned him a 92.25 and a comfortable lead over his rivals.
Clark, a five-time X Games superpipe winner, qualified top with a score of 93.75 thanks to a big run with stylish tricks.
