Prodigy on the keys and skis

It's one thing to be a gung-ho ski racer.

It’s another to be able to go from the slopes to the ivories, tinkling them at an extraordinarily high level.

This month Queenstown’s Konnor Shan — who’s just 11 — was the only South Islander of 26 entrants in the 14th Hong Kong International Piano Invitation Competition, held in Auckland.

He finished in the top three in his age group.

Konnor says he started playing the family’s little, old piano when he was 7, "just because I wanted to play something".

"He picked it up really quickly," his mum, Jasmine, says.

He passed his Grade 5 piano exam at the age of 10, and has now moved on to a much grander piano.

But Konnor, who enjoys listening to classical music and playing jazz because "it’s just fun to play and sounds really good", says his first love is actually skiing.

He strapped on his first skis when he was about 3 or 4, and now competes to podium-level in giant slalom and slalom.

As to why he prefers being on the slopes, Konnor says it’s because he can ski with his friends, and "you just get to go wherever you want".

As for the skiing, Jasmine worries.

"Always. The scariest thing is if during the day his coach calls me, because if he calls me, there isn’t going to be good news."

While those two hobbies would be enough for most kids, Konnor also plays soccer and basketball for fun, and enjoys playing guitar, too.

He’s also made a name for himself at the 2020 Lego Masters section of Lake Hawea’s first Brick Show, when he was 7, after making a Rubik’s cube-solving robot.