Lake Wanaka, New Zealand (Saturday 26 June, 2010) – In a year that was filled with success across all of the sports and disciplines that make up Snow Sports, two athletes stood above the others, Paralympic Gold Medallist, Adam Hall and Overall World Freeski Champion, Jossi Wells and they shared in the glory last night with both being named Snow Sports Athlete of the Year.
“This was one of the hardest decisions we’ve ever had to make, and in the end it became obvious that both Adam and Jossi deserved this honour,” said SSNZ CEO Ross Palmer. “They each set very high goals for themselves, and they both were able to achieve those goals, so it’s fitting that they share this award for their achievements.”
Hall, who was named Snow Sports New Zealand’s Athlete of the Year in 2008 and 2009 ended his acceptance speech last year saying “"Here's to March next year. We'll see you with a gold medal around my neck.” He had set his goal of gold.
On March 15 2010, Adam Hall's long held dream of winning gold became a reality in the standup slalom at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Paralympic Games.
In the pinnacle event of Disabled Alpine Ski Racing, Adam Hall won gold, and in style. Hall also finished 7th in Giant Slalom and 8th in the Super Combined races.
These outstanding Paralympic achievements topped off another successful year, first in New Zealand as the National Championship, then a podium at Winter Games NZ. While his Northern Hemisphere season was totally focused on preparation for the Paralympic Games, Adam achieved top results in the US NORAM races, and IPC World Cups. Hall was winner of the Wells Fargo World Invitational Bankcup for the 5th time. He is now ranked number one in the world in Disabled Alpine Ski Racing Slalom.
Over the 2010 season Hall’s achievements have been recognised by winning the Otago Senior Sports Man Of The Year and the supreme award for Otago Sportsperson of the Year, making history as the first disabled athlete to have earned this recognition. A Pinnacle Scholarship recipient, Hall is an exceptional ambassador for New Zealand, Snowsports and the disabled community, especially with young children.
Taking a well-deserved break from the snow, Hall graciously accepted the award once again but this time via video from Winter Park, Colorado.
Over the past year Jossi Wells has been on fire. In addition to his Overall World Championship he came home with the 2010 AFP Superpipe Title, Silver in Superpipe from the X Games, the Overall Dew Tour Ski Superpipe Championship, a gold at the Austrian Open and a Bronze in Slopestyle at the European X Games.
Over the 2009 southern hemisphere season Jossi was honoured as the Central Otago Junior Sportsman of the Year, the Central Otago Supreme Sportsman of the Year, the Otago Junior Sportsperson of the Year, the New Zealand Freeskier of the Year and he was recipient of the Halberg/Westpac Trust Emerging Talent Award. He continued to climb the podium taking first place in halfpipe at the Volkl NZ Freeski Open, first at the Parklife Rail Jam Invitational and a second in slopestyle at the NZ Winter Games.
Winners in other categories were as follows:
Adaptive Snow Sports Athlete of the Year – Adam Hall
Alpine Ski Racer of the Year – Ben Griffin
Olympian Ben Griffin has shown us that he can’t be broken. His determination and focus have shown results. He made a solid comeback from injury to win the overall title for the ANC Cup. He went on to win the SG and GS titles at the Nationals. Ben is NZ’s number 1 ranked Super G and Giant Slalom athlete.
Overall and SC golden bib winner at ANC’s 2010. 21 top ten finishes and 3 podiums. SG and GS starts at Olympic Winter Games 2010.
Cross Country Skier of the Year – Nat Anglem
Whilst Ben Koons’ and Katie Calder’s attendance at the Olympics was a significant milestone for cross country skiing in New Zealand, the sport committee recommended that Nat Anglem receive the award, not so much for his excellent results during the year, but for his contribution to the sport in terms of commitment, leadership and determination.
Nat’s season commenced with excellent results in the Winter Games, including overall winner of the inaugural Winter Triathlon event.
Despite a heavy work commitment in Christchurch, Nat spent much of the 2009 season at Snow Farm in preparation for his final assault on obtaining the necessary FIS points to qualify for the Olympics.
In November, Nat left his family behind in New Zealand and headed to Finland where he was based for two months, training and racing. Unfortunately despite some good results including a 130 FIS point result in Munio, he did not lower his overall FIS points, and was forced to make the agonising decision to accept defeat and return to New Zealand just in time for his sons first birthday.
Nat has served on the Cross Country Sport Committee and participated extensively in developing a pathway for cross country athletes and improving the technical and sport medicine training in cross country skiing and winter Olympic sports in general.
Freeskier of the Year – Jossi Wells
Snowboarder of the Year – Shelly Gotlieb
After taking Gold at Winter Games NZ and placing third at the NZ Burton Open, New Zealand’s top female slopestyle rider, Shelly Gotlieb, ended her northern hemisphere season with a Silver in slopestyle at the U.S. Burton Open, one of the most prestigious snowboarding events in the world. She’s now ranked number ten in the world.
Finishing fifth place at the Burton European Open, Shelly received an invite to the prestigious Winter X Games and was the first ever to represent New Zealand snowboarding at the Games. Unfortunately, a pretty serious tumble took Shelly out of the competition and off the snow for a few weeks, taking her out of the running for the Burton Canadian Open but she was back in action for the US Burton Open, and what a comeback!
Emerging Talent – Hamish Bagley
The Wakatipu High School NZ Alpine Sports Academy member and Year 10 student has a long list of achievements in the halfpipe discipline, recently taking out second place in the USA Snowboard Association Nationals' under-14 competition at Copper Mountain in Colorado and currently holding the title of New Zealand's under 14 halfpipe champion.
Bagley has recently been selected to represent New Zealand at the upcoming Junior World Championships and has his sites set on the 2014 Winter Olympic Games.
Coach of the Year – Bruce Wells
Bruce Wells has been coaching, managing and mentoring for the past 17 years, starting with his first son, Jossi, and continuing on with his other three boys, Byron, Beau-James and Jackson. All of the Wells boys have enjoyed enormous success each step along the way, all of them beginning in ski racing to ensure they could actually ski properly before branching out into other disciplines.
Bruce and his family have made enormous sacrifices over the years to help their children reach the podium, capped by Jossi’s overall World Championship this past year.
It should also be noted that Bruce regularly volunteers his time to give coaching tips to other competitive skiers outside of his family. The list of athletes he has assisted is too long to include here, and it’s all done voluntarily.
It’s safe to say, based purely on results, that Bruce is New Zealand’s top freestyle coach. He is deserving of his selection as Coach of the Year.
Volunteer of the Year – Nigel Brown
Nigel Brown, co-founder of Browns Ski Shop, has spent countless hours helping with alpine ski racing. He’s invaluable to the sport and brings a wealth of knowledge to the various volunteer roles he’s held. He’s on the mountain from early June to late October.
Former NZ B team rep Brown began volunteer work as chief-of-race at The Remarkables and Coronet Peak in 1987 and has continued officiating events every year since then, including last year’s Winter Games.
He became a FIS technical delegate in 1994 – helping oversee races in Colorado, Argentina, Chile, Australia and NZ each year.
The awards cover the 2009 Southern Hemisphere season through the 2009-10 Northern Hemisphere season.
Other award winners on the evening included Ohau and Mt Olympus for the Snow.co.nz 2009 Ski Area Services Awards; Ruapehu’s Jonathan Evans for the NZ Snow Sports Instructors Alliance (NZSIA) 2009 Instructor of the Year; and Walter Unterberger and Liz Wallace were awarded their cups as the 2009 Ski Racing Masters Champions.
To view the complete set of the photos from the night, click here. To see a creative take on the night, visit Tim Pierce of Zeros and Ones blog, here.
|
