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17th January 2012

Wanakas Beau-James Wells narrowly missed his opportunity of a medal at the Youth Olympic Winter Games currently underway in Innsbruck, Austria. After achieving the top score in the qualifiers he put down two fantastic runs in the finals but ended his day a mere 1.5 points out of podium contention.

 While Beau is bitterly disappointed, I am really, really pleased with his performance, said father and coach Bruce Wells.   Adding, When the pressure came on in the finals he stepped it up and skied out of his skin.  A couple of other the other athletes just managed to stick some cutting edge tricks that Beau doesnt have in his competition repertoire yet.  He is working on those tricks but with Sochi 2014 and PyeongChang 2018 in our sites we havent added them to his competition runs.  We are thinking long term and want to make sure that we keep things safe.

Over on the girls side, Samantha Poots, also from Wanaka, finished seventh in freeski halfpipe just missing the six-person finals.

After struggling to find his rhythm and execute his tricks during training, Queenstowns Hamish Bagley stepped it up in competition and ended with an impressive top ten result in the snowboard halfpipe. 

Hamish put down two incredible runs landing back to back 9s in both the semi-finals and finals, said Snow Sports New Zealands Adam Dooney, currently in Innsbruck providing support for the snow sports athletes.  He had some tough competition with the level of skiing really ramping up in the finals.  Some of the athletes were landing double corks and 10s and the amplitude went through the roof with many flying 12 to 14 feet out of the pipe.   

Dooney went on to say, This event has helped Hamishs growth in the sport and in international competition.

Alpine ski racer, Harry Izard-Price (Wellsford), had much the same to say about his experience at the Games.  Being here has been amazing, said Izard-Price who finished 22nd in Combined and 31st in Super G.  Its a real eye opener.  The experience has motivated me a lot and now I know that I want to excel to the next level and I know what that looks like.

Izard-Price is pleased with his results so far and looking forward to the giant slalom race as that is one of his areas of strength.

He was able to catch a bit of teammate Piera Hudsons Super G run and said that after some difficulty with the jump she managed to pull it together for a good finish to the race.  Hawkes Bays Hudson placed 17th in Super G and 16th in Combined and will also compete in slalom and giant slalom.

The inaugural Youth Olympic Winter Games are providing an ideal pathway to the Olympic Games according to Chef de Mission, Pete Wardell.

The inaugural Youth Olympic Winter Games have passed the halfway mark with New Zealands team of fifteen young athletes being given experience in a high profile multi-sport environment.

The Olympic environment is unique, said Wardell. The Youth Olympic Winter Games are a new way to provide our athletes with the experience they need to progress in the competitive winter sports world. The level of competition here is extremely high. Well be seeing some of these athletes go on to Sochi 2014 and PyeongChang 2018.

Still to comeSnowboard slopestyle, ski cross, giant slalom and slalom events. 

Competition winds up on 22 January 2012.

NEW ZEALAND YOUTH OLYMPIC SNOW SPORTS TEAM
Beau-James Wells (15) - freeski halfpipe, Wanaka
Sam Andrews (15)  - freeski ski cross, Wanaka
Hamish Bagley (15) snowboard halfpipe and slopestyle, Arrowtown
Harry Izard-Price (16) alpine slalom, giant slalom, super g, combined, Wellsford
Piera Hudson (15)- alpine - slalom, giant slalom, super g, combined, Hawkes Bay
Samantha Poots (15) freeski ski cross, Wanaka
Tim Herbert (16) snowboard slopestyle, Wanaka