Three other New Zealand athletes also stood on the podium, as Finley Melville Ives, 18, of Wānaka, joined Ball on the freeski podium in third place and Lyon Farrell, 25, of Arrowtown, and Rocco Jamieson, 18, of Wānaka, finished in second and third place respectively in the men’s snowboard competition.
Held on Cardrona’s world-class big air jump, over 60 ski and snowboard athletes representing seven nations dropped in to compete for valuable FIS and ANC points.
Disbrowe took the win in the women’s Freeski competition, executing a left-corked 720 tail grab that impressed the judges. Caoimhe Heavey, of Great Britain, finished in second place and Indra Brown, of Australia, rounded out the women’s Freeski Big Air podium in third.
Disbrowe said she had been "quite nervous" as she had never before performed her winning move on that jump.
"Landing that trick on the first run really helped take the pressure off my second run."
Despite sitting comfortably in second position after his first run, he dropped into his second run and performed a triple corked 1800 with a safety grab.
Ball said he was "really proud" to have performed as well as he did given the level of competition in the event.
"I only just learnt that trick [the triple corked 1800] the other day, but I knew that it’s what I needed to do and managed to sneak it around and land it."
Cameron Waddell, of Australia, finished in second place and Melville Ives finished in third.
The Cardrona NZ Freestyle Nationals has been held at Cardrona Alpine Resort this week from Monday until today.
Included in the 2024 programme is the final stop of the 2024 FIS Australia New Zealand Cup series, with the Freeski and Snowboard Big Air, Halfpipe and Slopestyle events.
The Cardrona NZ Freestyle Nationals will also see the age division NZ National Champions crowned in Skier-Cross, Boarder-Cross, Freeski & Snowboard Halfpipe and Freeski & Snowboard Slopestyle.
At the end of the week, the overall National Champions will also be crowned for all age divisions.
