Mikayla Smyth (Auckland, 18) has claimed two alpine ski racing gold medals today at New Zealand’s home of alpine ski racing, Coronet Peak. Smyth has been crowned the New Zealand National Slalom Champion, along with winning the overall FIS category at the same race.
2018 Winter Olympian Willis Feasey (Twizel, 30) claimed the men’s New Zealand National Slalom title, reconfirming his status as one of New Zealand’s strongest male skiers of the last decade.
On winning the New Zealand National Slalom Championships title, Smyth said; “It feels really great, I am really stoked with just how I put it down on the hill today. It was a really great race run by amazing volunteers.”
Smyth further explained; “I finished in second place last year at the National Slalom Champs and it has really pushed me to want to be better, to crawl up the ranks and put some good skiing out there.”
The women’s National Slalom Championship podium was rounded out by Ruby Fullerton (Nelson, 17) in second place and Zoe Parr (New Plymouth, 16) in third place.
After claiming the men’s title, Feasey said; “I just tried to hit the top of the turn as hard as possible and generate as much speed as I could. It’s cool to come up and ski with the younger generation of Kiwi ski racers, hopefully I can share a thing or two with them because we have some great younger skiers coming up the ranks.”
Feasey was joined on the National Slalom Championship podium by Alec Jackson (Whangarei, 18) in second place and Calder Bain (Wānaka, 20) in third place.
Today’s race marked the first time in over 15 years a FIS sanctioned race has been held on the ProAm slope. ProAm adds a degree of technicality to the racecourse, with multiple fall lines and pitch changes occurring throughout the course, requiring the athletes to be precision perfect. It also crossed under the Coronet Express chairlift, allowing skiers and snowboarders to spectate and enjoy the event from above.
The New Zealand Alpine National Championships continue on Saturday with the Giant Slalom race set to be held on The Hurdle at Coronet Peak.
9 months ago