Queenstown alpine skier Tim Cafe is one step closer to qualifying for the Winter Olympics after coming sixth in the Super G in the Winter Games at Coronet Peak yesterday.
Cafe (22) lowered his world ranking from 285 to 170 with a time of 1min 03.88sec, and said he was "stoked" with a result he had not been expecting.
"I was a bit annoyed because I had made a few mistakes and there were a lot of things I could have done better, but as it turned out it was a really tough race for everyone," he said.
The Australia New Zealand Cup race was held in clear but very windy conditions after bad weather caused its postponement on Tuesday.
Cafe said the wind combined with hard snow made for a tough race.
"Hard snow is good but it means you have to be very precise. The track was quite difficult.
You have to be on to it in every turn to negotiate your way down."
Cafe said he needed a world ranking below 250 to reach the discretionary qualification for the Winter Olympics in six months.
Yesterday's result brought him down to 170th, making a "massive" difference to his chances of selection.
Cafe will compete in the giant slalom today.
However, his hand is not fully healed from a fracture last month, and tests and physiotherapy on Saturday will determine whether he will compete in the slalom on Sunday.
Lucie Tait- Jamieson (21), of the Cardrona High Performance Centre, was the leading New Zealand woman yesterday.
She finished 14th in 1min 08.29sec, virtually halving her Super G FIS points.
Britt Janyk (29), of Canada, won the women's race and Jake Zamansky (28), of the United States, won the men's.
Thirty-five women and 34 men from the United States, Sweden, Canada, Monaco, France, Great Britain, Poland, Germany, the Ukraine, the Netherlands, Finland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Korea, Australia and New Zealand competed on the 418m course, which started at the top of the mountain, following a steep track over the Hurdle, through Eighth Basin to finish in the Rocky Gully arena.
It was a head-to-head clash in the women's event between third seed Janyk and 23-year-old Maria Pietilae-Holmner, of Sweden.
Jaynk claimed the gold medal when she clocked 1min 04.74sec, a quarter of a second ahead of Pietilae-Holmner.
Third place went to Jaynk's team mate, 22-year-old Shona Rubens.
Janyk said she was excited about the win and praised the Coronet Peak race department, course workers and volunteers for creating an excellent course in challenging conditions.
The men's race was even tighter than the women's but Zamansky claimed the title in 1min 03.26sec, edging out Felix Neureuther (25), of Germany, who stopped the clock at 1min 03.64sec.
Olivier Jenot (21), of Monaco, finished third and Travis Ganong (United States) was fourth.
Ganong was forced to have a re-run after being blown off the course on his first run by a strong gust of wind.
The re-run pushed Cafe from fifth to sixth.
Zamansky, who has recently returned to the US team, said he was ecstatic about the race.
"It was awesome, not too rounded, and the conditions were great."
While the Super G was completed successfully, the adaptive skiers were not so fortunate and their race had to be cancelled due to the high winds which blew down safety netting.
Snowsports New Zealand adaptive snowsports manager Libby Blakely said it was disappointing for the athletes.
"The athletes both from overseas and from New Zealand were looking forward to racing on the same course as the able-bodied racers for the first time. But you can't control nature," she said.
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