The youngest, Eva Small, 14, of Lake Hawea, was competing overseas for the first time.
She delivered the best result of her career, fourth, in the under-18 event of the 2025 YETI Freeride Junior World Championships in Kappl, Austria.
Small won a wild-card entry to the junior world championship on the back of strong results in New Zealand freeski events last winter.
She joined 64 elite junior freeriders from 16 nations to test the Quellspitze face, known for its steep gradients, blind takeoffs, and varied terrain.
Amy Benson, 17, of Wanaka, also competed at the junior world freeride event, finishing sixth.
Ben Richards, 24, of Wanaka, was third in the first stop of the senior version of the Freeride World Tour, held at Baqueira Beret in Spain on January 18.
It was the skier’s second hitout at the world event. He was named rookie of the year on the 2024 Freeride World Tour.
Meanwhile, Wānaka Olympian snowboarder Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, 23, made a successful return to top-level competition on January 19, following rehabilitation last year for an injured ankle.
She was second at the LAAX World Cup Open Slopestyle in Switzerland, picking up her 10th World Cup podium of her career.
‘‘It means everything to me to be back competing at a high level. [My ankle] took so much longer than expected to come right but I am so stoked to be snowboarding,’’ she said, in a statement after the event.
Wanaka freeskier Luca Harrington, 20, achieved a career milestone when he won two World Cup slopestyle competitions a week apart in Europe this month.
- Wanaka Sun
