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25th January 2012

The first ever Youth Winter Olympic Games have come to a close for New Zealands snow sports athletes with stand out performances by Beau-James Wells, Piera Hudson and Hamish Bagley and a critical insight into elite level multi-sport event and what it means to be an Olympic athlete.

Piera Hudson carving it up in Super Combi

New Zealands sole alpine skiers at the inaugural Youth Winter Olympic Games made their presence felt at the slalom events during the final weekend of competition with 15-year-old Piera Hudson (Hawkes Bay) claiming an outstanding 15th placing and Harry Izard-Price (Wellsford) clocking 23rd place in extremely challenging conditions.

Hudson is the current New Zealand overall National Giant Slalom and Junior Giant Slalom titleholder and has been heralded as a rising star in alpine ski racing. 

As a 1996 born athlete and in her first year on the FIS racing circuit, she was up against older experienced international skiers, particularly Europeans who dominated the competition, but she remained undaunted by the challenge.
Her slalom result achieved from a 34th start place in a field of 54 athletes was her best result for the Youth Olympic series.

Coach Jonathan Rice says she performed brilliantly in a very experienced field dominated by skiers from Slovakia, Canada and Russia.

Piera did well to move up 20 places in challenging conditions.

In the giant slalom she was lying 21st after the first run but did not finish the second which put her out of contention.

Piera was one of only eighteen 15-year-olds competing in the alpine events at the Youth Olympics. She finished third fastest of her age group in the slalom, Super G and Super Combi, an exceptional result which reflects her increasing confidence and ability to perform under pressure amongst strong international competition.
Harry Izard-Price, 16, (Wellsford) faced extremely tough competition as a 1995 born athlete and achieved 23rd placing in the slalom after starting 42nd on a demanding course which saw almost 30 of the 62 competitors fail to finish.

In his best result of the Youth Olympics he claimed 14th place in the giant slalom starting in bib number 36. He is currently ranked in the top 300 in giant slalom in the world for his year group and skied below his FIS points to record an 82.38 result.

Rice said following the race he was very, very happy with Harrys result in the large field of 65 athletes.

Alpine ski racing is dominated by European nations with over 1500 1995 and 1996 born women FIS registered athletes and 2012 men competing around the world. The numbers put the excellent results achieved by Hudson and Izard-Price in perspective and underline their potential on the international racing circuit.

New Zealand Olympic Committee Secretary General Kereyn Smith said the inaugural games were significant. The combination of competition and culture provides a strong base to the Olympic pathway for young athletes, she said. The Youth Olympic Games open doors for young New Zealand athletes.

The Closing Ceremony brought a close to 10 days of world-class sporting competition and cultural and educational activities specifically designed for the 1,000-plus athletes aged 14 to 18 who participated in the Games. The highlight of the short Ceremony saw the Olympic Flag passed from Innsbruck to Lillehammer, who will host the next Winter Youth Olympics in 2016.

Youth Olympic Winter Games Chef de Mission Peter Wardell says that while the team did not finish with any medals, the experience the athletes gained was invaluable and the pathway to the Olympic Winter Games has been strengthened. For the first time a lot of these young athletes were able to judge themselves against their peers at an international level, it provided them with a great opportunity and Beau-James Wells and Callum Burns (ice hockey) were right up there placing fourth in their events.

We expect to see Youth Olympic freeski and alpine ski team members at both Sochi in 2014 and PyeongYang in 2018.

The athletes helped to make Olympic history by participating in a number of events that appeared for the first time on an Olympic programme in Innsbruck ahead of their inclusion in the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games. These included womens ski jumping, ski halfpipe and snowboard slopestyle.

The next edition of the Winter Youth Olympic Games will be held in Lillehammer, Norway in 2016. The next Winter Olympic Games will be held in Sochi, Russia in 2014.

The New Zealand Youth Olympic Team departed Innsbruck today.

NEW ZEALAND YOUTH OLYMPIC SNOW SPORTS TEAM?

Alpine Skiing Combined Men 22nd Harry Izard-Price?Alpine Skiing Giant Slalom Men 14th Harry Izard-Price?Alpine Skiing Super G Men 31st Harry Izard-Price?Alpine Skiing Slalom Men 23rd Harry Izard-Price
Alpine Skiing Combined Women 16th Piera Hudson?Alpine Skiing Giant Slalom DNF 2nd run Women Piera Hudson?Alpine Skiing Slalom Women 15th Piera Hudson?Alpine Skiing Super G Women 17th Piera Hudson
Freestyle Skiing Halfpipe Men 4th Beau-James Wells
Freestyle Skiing Halfpipe Women 7th Samantha Poots
Freestyle Skiing Ski Cross Men 18th Samuel Andrews
Snowboard Half Pipe Men 10th Hamish Bagley
Snowboard Slopestyle Men 21st Tim Herbert

New Zealand Olympic Snow Sports Team Results:

Alpine Skiing Combined Men 22nd Harry Izard-Price?Alpine Skiing Giant Slalom Men 14th Harry Izard-Price?Alpine Skiing Super G Men 31st Harry Izard-Price?Alpine Skiing Slalom Men 23rd Harry Izard-Price
Alpine Skiing Combined Women 16th Piera Hudson?Alpine Skiing Giant Slalom DNF 2nd run Women Piera Hudson?Alpine Skiing Slalom Women 15th Piera Hudson?Alpine Skiing Super G Women 17th Piera Hudson
Freestyle Skiing Halfpipe Men 4th Beau-James Wells
Freestyle Skiing Halfpipe Women 7th Samantha Poots
Freestyle Skiing Ski Cross Men 18th Samuel Andrews
Snowboard Half Pipe Men 10th Hamish Bagley
Snowboard Slopestyle Men 21st Tim Herbert