Winter codes may dominate winners list

Jacob Duffy. Photo: Getty Images

Grab your woolly hat — winter sport is perhaps set to dominate the Otago Sports Awards at the Edgar Centre tonight.

The region’s snowboarders and skiers are up for most of the major awards.

Snowboard queen Zoi Sadowski-Synnott won double silver at the Winter Olympics and is arguably a lock for the sportswoman of the year crown.

She is up against alpine skier Alice Robinson and rower Juliette Lequeux, who was selected for the world championships last year.

Freeskier Luca Harrington shapes as the leading contender for sportsman of the year following another impressive season on the slopes.

Harrington claimed bronze at the Winter Olympics.

Zoi Sadowski Synnott. Photo: Getty Images

World champion freeride skier Ben Richards and Otago and Black Caps seamer Jacob Duffy, who eclipsed Richard Hadlee’s 40-year-old record for the most wickets taken in an international calendar year for New Zealand, are the other finalists.

Snowboarding and skiing go head-to-head in the coach of the year category.

Daniel Bogue (adaptive alpine skiing), Nils Coberger and Tim Cafe (alpine skiing) and Tom Willmott (snowsports, park and pipe) are the three finalists.

The team of the year title will go to a side more familiar with grass than snow, though.

The Otago Spirit, who won the Farah Palmer Cup Championship, are locked in a scrum with the Otago men’s side, who won the Ranfurly Shield in a thrilling comeback against Canterbury and made the NPC final for the first time in 20 years.

The Otago men’s A relay squad, who were surprise winners of the category last year, are also finalists.

Alice Robinson. Photo: Getty Images

Alpine skier Adam Hall, who won silver at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, shot putter Holly Robinson and sprinter Anna Grimaldi all shape as worthy winners of the para athlete of the year award.

The junior sportsman title seems destined to end up in the hands of world champion freeskier Finley Melville Ives. But dashing Otago halfback Dylan Pledger made a big impact in his rookie year for the team, and cyclist James Gardner has pedalled into contention.

Sprinter Jorja Gibbons, javelin thrower and basketballer Alexa Duff, and freeskier Mischa Thomas are finalists for junior sportswoman of the year.

Lucas Ball (freeski, slopestyle and big air), Hugo Bogue (cricket), Kiana Brown (basketball and netball), Indy Deavoll (downhill mountain biking) and Raphael Anderson (golf) are the emerging talent finalists.

The official of the year is a contest between Chris Gaffaney (cricket), James Doleman (rugby) and Allys Clipsham (football).

Services to sport, innovation in sport and the supreme award will all be announced as well.

The awards are judged by Sport Otago chief executive James Nation, Otago Academy of Sport manager Carmel Leslie, Otago Daily Times sports editor Hayden Meikle, TVNZ sports reporter Michelle Banks and University of Otago pro vice-chancellor health sciences Megan Gibbons.