Winter Olympics: Profile: Kendall Brown, Snowboarder

New Zealand team profiles

Kendall Brown (20), Snowboarder

Lives: Wanaka (born Dunedin).

Event: Halfpipe snowboarding became an Olympic sport in 1998.

Background: When Brown finished 24th at the 2006 Olympics, she was just 16 and New Zealand's youngest Olympian.

She started snowboarding aged 11.

She won last weekend's Canadian Open, was 13th at the recent Austrian World Cup and finished 17th at last year's Winter Games World Cup halfpipe.

Chances: Brown has battled ongoing injuries during her build-up to battle her way back into the New Zealand team after being dropped in 2008.

But her pre-Olympic build up has been very encouraging and, if things continue to go her way, Brown could reach the final and may outshine her senior team-mate, Juliane Bray.

Gretchen Bleiler and Kelly Clark, of the US, and Torah Bright, of Australia, are the top contenders to win the women's halfpipe medals.

Race day: February 18, at Whistler.

 

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