At the last worlds, Brooke Hansen finished second-best female and Keani Wilson placed 12th in the men’s comp.
Brooke subsequently took out the overall under-19 women’s title for the Americas, while Keani recently won the NZ junior freeride tour which took in Queenstown’s The Remarkables, Canterbury’s Mt Olympus and Wanaka’s Treble Cone.
Brooke, who attends correspondence school, was also a finalist in the ‘breakthrough season’ division of last Friday’s Snow Sports NZ awards.
Brooke and Keani, who attends Wakatipu High, are also the two snowboarders who’ve been sponsored by AJ Hackett Bungy NZ’s new athletes’ programme, RISER, which provides support for Kiwi youth aged 14 to 24 involved in high-octane sports.
Keani, whose family live next to AJ Hackett legend Henry van Asch, back in February got the chance to snowboard off the roof of the local Nevis bungy.
Over the next few months Keani, who competes in both freeride and slopestyle, will be based in Europe, after being based in Canada over the past two NZ summers, while Brooke will again compete in North America.
The pair are both coached year-round by Andrew Manuel from Alberta, Canada.
