The men’s seeding round consisted of 8 heats to determine the position of each rider in round 1. The conditions throughout the afternoon were certainly irregular as the AP flag went up several times, but with patience and determination, we managed to complete the full seeding round.

Similar to the two-star competition, New Zealand skiers and snowboarders were strongly represented on the podiums in the four-star category. One category in particular stood out, according to Judge Dion Newport: Women's Ski Freeride. Jess Hotter (NZL) and Kelsey Wittels (USA) had a close battle for the win. In the end, it was Jess Hotter's particularly controlled and fluid run that gave her the win by a very narrow margin. In the men's race, the podium was in the hands of locals in both the S...

Similar to the two-star competition, New Zealand skiers and snowboarders were strongly represented on the podiums in the four-star category. One category in particular stood out, according to Judge Dion Newport: Women's Ski Freeride. Jess Hotter (NZL) and Kelsey Wittels (USA) had a close battle for the win. In the end, it was Jess Hotter's particularly controlled and fluid run that gave her the win by a very narrow margin. In the men's race, the podium was in the hands of locals in both the S...

The US Freeski Team made a clean sweep of the women’s Freeski Halfpipe Podium, with Hanna Faulhaber taking the top spot with an impressive score of 92.67, 13 points clear of her teammate Carly Margulies in second place. Riley Jacobs rounded out the US podium sweep in third. Cardrona local and Beijing 2022 Winter Olympian 16-year-old Gustav Legnavsky took the win in the Men’s Freeski Halfpipe category with an impressive run that included three double corks, scoring 94.33. Gustav was disappoint...

Local athletes Ruby Andrews and Luca Harrington topped the women’s and men’s Freeski Slopestyle with results from qualification on Saturday used as the final results. Jesse Parkinson of Australia, winner of the Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle, was a standout competitor in his field. The judges were really impressed with the backside triple 1440 he was stomping, the only competitor performing this massive trick. Mari Fukada, Japan, claimed to top spot on the Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle podium. She...

Winter Games NZ is the Southern Hemisphere’s biggest snow sports event, featuring 16 events across alpine, freeride and park and pipe disciplines between the 27th August and 11th September. Willis Feasey, Claim Back-to-Back Super-G Wins on Day One of Winter Games NZ.

Cardrona Alpine Resort was the host for the final sports challenge at the Obsidian 2020, the Park Jam. The athletes threw down some amazing tricks to wow the spectators on a bluebird day. The men’s ski was the biggest category and at the end of the semi-finals it was hard for the judges to pick only three to go through. It ended up with Finn Bilous grabbing first, Jackson Wells in second and Beau-James Wells rounding out in third. It was a similar story for the men’s snowboard category w...

With best conditions, the Obsidian Freeride competition on the WTF face in the Minaret Range near Lake Wanaka took place. The heli-access venue tested the 21 athletes, with Janina Kuzma showing her experience in the women’s category. The 2014 Halfpipe veteran from the Sochi Olympics and the Freeride World Tour veteran was strong and smooth on the face in difficult conditions. Ronan Thompson was first in the European and Oceania Junior Freeride World Tour in 2019 and he was one of the few sn...

The Big Air Tournament of Obsidian 2020 is in the books. Team Jossi took out the top spot in each of the three categories today, with Nico Porteous, Margaux Hackett and Carlos Garcia Knight’s strong performances. This would normally have meant they were at the top of the overall standings for the day, but Team Kuzma strategically played their Joker card on the Big Air event. This card allows the team to gain double points on the day they use it. This pushed them infront with 160 points, to Te...

The Big Air Tournament of Obsidian 2020 is in the books. Team Jossi took out the top spot in each of the three categories today, with Nico Porteous, Margaux Hackett and Carlos Garcia Knight’s strong performances. This would normally have meant they were at the top of the overall standings for the day, but Team Kuzma strategically played their Joker card on the Big Air event. This card allows the team to gain double points on the day they use it. This pushed them infront with 160 points, to Te...