Estonian teenager shines in slopestyle

Estonian freeskier Kelly Sildaru throws down a trick during her winning run at the Winter Games...
Estonian freeskier Kelly Sildaru throws down a trick during her winning run at the Winter Games womens' slopestyle competition at the Cardrona Alpine Resort yesterday. Sildaru (15) became the youngest female to win an International Skiing Federation World Cup event. Photo: Winter Games NZ
Estonian teenager Kelly Sildaru  proved why she is the future of women’s slopestyle skiing, clinching the top place at the Winter Games slopestyle World Cup competition at Cardrona yesterday.

Sildaru (15) led  the women’s field from start to finish and in the process became the youngest woman to win an International Ski Federation World Cup event.

An overcast and windy day meant conditions were not perfect for the 16 men and eight women who qualified for the finals.

Despite the conditions, Sildaru dominated the rest of the field, finishing almost 4 points ahead of runner-up Giulia Tanno, of Switzerland, with a best run of 86.6.

In the men’s competition, it was back-to-back wins for the 2015 champion,  British skier James Woods.

Woods, who is based in Wanaka during the winter, took the lead with his first run, scoring 91.80.

It included a switch left double 1080 octo grab, which involved skiing backwards into the jump and rotating three times while holding one of his skis.

Only Swiss skier Andri Ragettli  came close to surpassing Woods, scoring a 90 with the final run of the day to take second place.

No New Zealand skiers made it out of the qualifying round on Saturday.

Young Wanaka prospect Finn Bilous (17)  could consider himself unlucky not to have progressed to the final round, missing out by 0.69 points, with a best score of 88.33.

To make matters worse, if Bilous had been placed in any of the other three qualifying groups (the top four from each group progressed) he would have made it through to the finals yesterday.

The next closest Kiwi was Jackson Wells (19),  whose best run scored a 83.66.

Both athletes finished in the top 20 but were seeking to make it to the final round, where qualifying points for next year’s Winter Olympics in Korea were to be played for.

●The Winter Games continue today with the third day of mixed pairs curling at the Maniototo International Curling rink in Naseby and the start of the Alpine Giant Slalom competition at Coronet Peak.

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