Skiers warm up for Audi quattro Winter Games NZ

Blue skies and a freshly cut superpipe provided a perfect day for skiers competing in the Australia New Zealand Cup (ANC) at Cardrona Alpine Resort, near Wanaka today.

The FIS sanctioned event served as a good warm up for the Audi quattro Winter Games NZ which get underway in 10 days’ time.

Competitors each had two qualifying runs to impress the judges with the top six female and top 10 male skiers earning spots in the afternoon’s finals.

Germany’s Sabrina Cakmakli qualified topped of women’s ski, dropping into the pipe with a switch air and achieving good amplitude throughout her run.

New Zealand’s Porteous brothers dominated the men’s ski field and battled hard for the top qualifying spot.

Miguel threw down the first doubles of the day, showing some of the class that saw him finish on the X Games podium earlier in the year. However, younger brother Nico’s combination of technical tricks - including a switch combo on his two final hits - and clean execution, saw him earn the highest qualifying score.

Consistency was the name of the game in finals, with the top male and female qualifiers from each discipline once again earning the top scores.

“There’s no better way to start competition season,” said women’s ski winner Sabrina Cakmakli.

Britain’s Zoe Atkin, fourth in qualifying, stepped up her amplitude and trick execution to leapfrog into second place in finals. Yu-Jin Jang (KOR) finished third.

The battle of the Porteous brothers never eventuated in men’s ski finals with Miguel pushing hard on his first hit, landing too deep and crashing out on both runs.

While “not really focusing on results and using today as a good warm up for Winter Games” Nico’s highly technical first run was easily enough for the win.

His left 1080 with seatbelt grab into switch right nine tail grab into switch left 1080 at the bottom of the pipe gave spectators a small taste of what Winter Games NZ World Cup competition might look like.

Spectators were also treated to a good showdown for second, third and fourth places with all three skiers delivering multiple off axis spins in both directions and boosting well out of the pipe.

Japan’s Hiroo Wada took out second place, rewarded for a clean run with pronounced grabs. Switzerland’s Robin Briguet finished third. Keita Takahashi just missed out on the podium, finishing fourth.

Full ski results here: https://www.fis-ski.com/DB/freestyle-skiing/results.html

Competition continues Wednesday when skiers will take to Cardrona Alpine Resort’s world-class slopestyle course for qualifying rounds ahead of slopestyle finals on Thursday.