Wānaka youngster Rocco Jamieson was in remarkable form on Saturday.
The 18-year-old snowboarder won the first stop of the FIS Australia New Zealand Cup slopestyle series at The Remarkables.
Finley Melville Ives, 18, also from Wānaka snagged himself a podium finish, claiming second place in the men’s freeski category.
Nearly 100 athletes representing 11 nations competed on the Big Line at Remarks Park.
With Youth Olympic Games medallists and world cup athletes in the mix, the level of competition was high and the podiums were hotly contested in each category.
Jamieson put down two solid runs, oozing creativity and style and standing out from the rest of the field with his progressive jump and rail tricks to claim victory with a score of 88.67, over six points ahead of second place.
"It feels really amazing to take the win here today at home in New Zealand," he said.
"I tried to do creative tricks that no-one else was doing. I did a double sloth roll pullback, which I don’t think anyone else did.
"I wanted to add a little of my own flavour to the run."
Wenlong Yang, of China, finished in second place, and Oliver Martin (United States) rounded out the men’s snowboard podium.
Melville Ives put down the single most technical trick of the men’s freeski competition, a double corked 1260 mute grab, and was pleased to take home the silver medal in what he described as a very competitive field.
Australian skier Kai Martin claimed the win with a technically sound run that was very well executed, and Ruka Ito (Japan) finished third in the men’s freeski category.
Saturday’s event was the first ANC event of the 2024 season with the valuable points counting towards the overall series.
The Kiwi or Australian winner of the series will be granted a personal FIS world cup start for the upcoming northern hemisphere season, a hugely valuable opportunity for those athletes with their eyes set on the 2026 Winter Olympics.
The next stop of the series will be a premium-level event with additional points up for grabs, as part of the Winter Games NZ programme.
The snowboarders will compete in the first ANC halfpipe event of the season, while the freeskiers take on the slopestyle course from August 26 at Cardrona Alpine Resort.
