Can Nico Porteous boldly follow in the footsteps of his superstar Wanaka mate?
Porteous will today begin his assault on the men’s freeski halfpipe competition at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
The 2018 bronze medallist is strongly favoured to win a medal — perhaps even gold, to match Zoi Sadowski-Synnott’s efforts in the snowboarding slopestyle.
He is the reigning world champion and X Games gold medallist, so all eyes will be on him when he launches himself into the pipe.
Porteous gets two qualifying runs, starting at 5.30pm, and will need to finish in the top 12 to compete in Saturday’s final.
He will not be alone — older brother Miguel, Ben Harrington and teenager Gustav Legnavsky make up a powerful Wanaka contingent in Beijing.
