FEATURE

Podiums for Adam Barwood and Jamie Prebble at first races of the season

By Snow Sports NZ

The first ski races of the northern hemisphere season are underway and NZ athletes are already making their presence felt against strong international fields. Ski cross racer Jamie Prebble (Christchurch) finished third at the Austrian National Championships while Adam Barwood (Queenstown) won the Slalom at an International Ski Federation (FIS) event in Echo Mountain, USA.
 
Prebble, who won the 2015 Breakthrough Season Award at the Snow Sports NZ Annual Awards night in October, made a promising start to his northern hemisphere campaign over the weekend. With the World Cup opening in Montafon, Austria on 4 December, the world’s best ski racers had gathered on the nearby Pitzal glacier, using the Austrian Ski Cross Nationals and the first Europa Cup event of the 2015-16 season as a warm up.
 
Prebble was amongst a strong field of 97 competitors which included several world cup racers and the current world champion Filip Flisar (SLO). He was delighted to finish third in the National Championship race and sixth in the Europa Cup race.
 

L-R David Duncan (CAN) Louis-Pierre Helie (CAN) Jamie Prebble (NZL) Brady Leman (CAN). Photo courtesy of Snow Sports NZ

"I'm really proud of the result against such a high level field," says Prebble. "It's always nerve wracking to see how I have progressed after the hard work during the NZ season and compared to my competitors. I can't wait to keep the momentum going for the rest of the season."
 
Meanwhile, ski racer Adam Barwood (Queenstown) who represented NZ at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games, proved that he is back to top form following a 2014-15 season marred by sickness.
 
On Monday morning (NZ time) Barwood won the Slalom and claimed a career best result of 15.08 FIS points at his season opener at Echo Mountain Resort in Colorado, USA.
 
Photo courtesy of Snow Sports NZ

“I managed to put in a really good first run coming in .42 seconds ahead of the field," explains Adam. “The snow was a bit soft at the top but a good layer underneath and I was really pleased to finish the second run well keeping me in first place ahead of Robbie Kelley. It's an awesome way to start the season!"

Slalom racing continued on Tuesday morning (NZT) with Adam putting together another solid performance and finishing third behind Robbie Kelley (USA) in first and Marco Reymond (SUI) in second.
 
Find full results here

The next alpine races are slalom NorAms on 24th and 26th November.