Golden effort from Wanaka snowboarder

Lucia Georgalli became the first New Zealander to win a Junior World Championship snowboard title...
Lucia Georgalli became the first New Zealander to win a Junior World Championship snowboard title at Cardrona yesterday. PHOTOS: WINTER GAMES NZ
Wānaka snowboarder Lucia Georgalli (16) became the first New Zealander to win a Junior World Championship snowboard title yesterday.

Hers was one of four medal events at the Winter Games NZ FIS Park & Pipe Junior World Championships at Cardrona.

The day started with the snowboard finals for the women and men who had qualified through on Monday.

Georgalli took a convincing lead with her first run, which remained the top scoring run throughout the finals, until she topped her own score.

Dropping into her second run, Georgalli knew she had secured the title, but rather than taking a victory lap she showed her competitive mindset and upped her run.

She scored a 91.00, putting her more than 10 points ahead of her nearest competitor.

Her run consisted of technical switch rail tricks in the top section, then a solid jump section that included three different 720 rotations, scoring highly on the variety and difficulty scale.

Georgalli said, "It feels amazing, pretty cool to get my runs down and I am so stoked. I didn’t know if I was going to do a chill second run or step up my run, but I decided to go for a new competition run and I landed it."

Fanny Chiesa Piantanida, of Italy, claimed the silver medal and Ally Hickman, of Australia, was third.

A strong field for the men’s final included the current Big Air and Halfpipe overall world champions, Taiga Hasegawa, of Japan, and Chaeun Lee, of Korea.

It was a tightly fought battle, with constant reshuffling of the leaderboard as the athletes pushed themselves and each other to the max.

Hasegawa (17) secured the lead on his final run, claiming the only score in the 90s for the snowboard men yesterday.

An ecstatic Hasegawa said, "I am so happy to get first place. The course was so sick, crazy course and thank you so much to Cardrona parks."

Cameron Spalding, of Canada, was second and Hasegawa’s fellow Japanese rider, Yuto Miyamura, took third.

Georgalli and Japan’s Taiga Hasegawa won the women’s and men’s snowboard slopestyle gold medals....
Georgalli and Japan’s Taiga Hasegawa won the women’s and men’s snowboard slopestyle gold medals. PHOTOS: WINTER GAMES NZ
In the afternoon the action continued with the freeski slopestyle finals.

The women’s final was a nail biter, with many athletes leaving it to the second run to show the judges what they were capable of.

Muriel Mohr, of Germany, took the win with her second run being rewarded highly by the judges.

Mohr dropped into her second and final run in bronze medal position, with the intention to shake up the podium. She upped the technicality of her rails and included a K-Fed on the second rail feature. A switch bio 900 and a right side 720 with her grabs locked in catapulted the 16-year-old German into first.

Mohr was joined on the podium by top seed qualifier Flora Tabanelli, of Italy, and Mischa Thomas, of New Zealand, who took third.

This was Thomas’ first FIS event, and she was over the moon with her results.

"My day went really well, I am really happy with how I skied. Coming third means a lot at the Junior World Champs, the feeling is indescribable.

"The support from the Kiwis has been amazing."

The freeski men also saved the best to last, with top qualifier Charlie Beatty, 16, the final athlete to drop into the course yesterday.

After crashing his first run the Canadian knew it was all on the line, but he remained composed, lacing together a super technical run and leapfrogging into gold medal position.

Beatty’s winning run included a left side 450 on, pretzel 270 out of the second rail feature and a huge switch right double cork 1440 on the final jump.

Beatty said, "It feels pretty unreal, I am super stoked to have put that run down today. It sets me up well for the upcoming northern hemisphere season, I am hoping to carry this momentum into the season and go out there, do my thing and have fun."

Fadri Rhyner, of Switzerland, claimed the silver and Leo Landroe, of Norway, the bronze.

The games continue today back over the Crown Range at Coronet Peak with the FIS ANC Slalom race set to be held on the Pro Am slope.