News

Press Release September 3 2017

Lake Wanaka, New Zealand (3 September 2017) – The Audi quattro Winter Games NZ action returned to the world-class slopestyle course at Cardrona Alpine Resort today with the who’s who of snowboarding on the hunt for coveted World Cup points. The women were the first to drop into the course this morning and American riders Hayley Langland and Jamie Anderson the top qualifiers in their respective heats.

Langland earned her top score of 92.00 on her second run of two, impressing the judges with her technical rail section. Coming off the back of a strong northern hemisphere season in which she earned a World Cup silver in slopestyle and X Games gold in Big Air, she was always on the one-to-watch list. However, Langland faced stiff competition from Japanese rider Reira Iwabuchi who scored a 90.00 on her first run and 91.50 on her second.

In heat two, Olympic champion Jamie Anderson secured a fast track to finals with a 95.50 from a possible 100 points on her second run of two, the judges rewarding her for the flow and technical merit of her run.

GB’s Katie Omerod also made good use of the creative course, earning second place on the scoreboard to guarantee her place in tomorrow’s finals.

“There’s so many good girls and it’s a challenging course, it’s quite difficult,” said Omerod. “I really like the course. It’s kind of nice when a World Cup is challenging because it really picks out the good riders.”

The top two women from each of the two heats progressed straight to the final rounds while the next three top scoring riders in each heat will move through to a semi-final.  NZ’s Zoi Sadowski Synnott will be amongst the semi-finalists after placing fifth in her heat. The Wanaka teenager enjoyed the challenge of competing against a world-class field on her home turf and looked to step up the technical difficulty of her run to lift her score.

“It’s the heaviest field I’ve ever competed with,” said Sadowski Synnott. “It’s a bit nerve wracking but exciting at the same time.

“I landed my first run, my back up run, then went for my second, stepped it up but didn’t quite get it. Everything went really well up until the last jump, I just went way too big on a double wildcat and didn’t stick it.”

The Audi quattro Winter Games NZ snowboard events are jointly sanctioned by the International Ski Federation (FIS) and the World Snowboard Tour (WST). They provide a valuable opportunity for snowboarders from around the world to earn qualifying points for the Olympic Winter Games which will take place in PyeongChang, South Korea in February 2018.

Top qualifiers heat one

Hailey Langland (USA)

Bridge: Lipslide

Quarter pipe: Seatbelt to fakie

Flatdown: Switch boardslide to regular

Audi feature: 50-50, indy grab

Jump 1: frontside 360, melon bring back

Jump 2: backside 540, stale grab

Jump 3: cab 540, mute grab

 

Reira Iwabuchi

Bridge: Lipslide

Hip: backside 360

Down rail: front side boardslide

Audi feature: 50-50 frontside 180

Jump 1: cab 540, stale grab

Jump 2: backside 720, stale grab

Jump 3: frontside inverted 720 indy

 

Top qualifiers heat two

Jamie Anderson

Rainbow: boardslide

Quarter pipe: handplant

Hip: frontside 360

Rail: backside lipslide

A frame: backside blunt 270 out

Jump 1: backside 540, indy grab

Jump 2: cab 540, mute grab

Jump 3: frontside 720, mute grab