Luke Harrold (Lake Hāwea, 17) has finished in second place at the inaugural Freeski Snow League event in China, a progressive new freeski and snowboard competition league founded by legendary snowboarder Shaun White.
At the post event press conference Harrold explained; “It felt good to compete against the people I have watched skiing for a long time, they have done everything I dream of doing in skiing, so it was really cool to be up against them. I am grateful for the great weather we had today and everyone I got to ski with, the skiing was amazing, and it was an amazing event - I am excited for what’s to come.”
The Snow League boasts a very different format to other halfpipe competitions, with athletes going head-to-head in knock-out rounds. With three runs per match up, with the best of three taking the win, the athletes need to put down a winning run every time they drop into the halfpipe if they want to progress to the finals.
Harrold, the youngest in the field, was up against three-time Olympic medallist David Wise (USA) in his quarter finals match up. Appearing unfazed going up against the veteran skier, Harrold laced together two highly technical runs which included a progressive switch left ally oop double corked 1260 and a left double corked 1620 to win the round.
Advancing to the semi-finals, Harrold took on Great Britain’s Gus Kenworthy and once again took the win with his first two runs, putting down variations of his quarter finals runs and qualifying through to the final round.
Harrold was now up against Canada’s Brendan Mackay, an X Games medallist, former World Champion and 11-time World Cup podium athlete. It was a nail-biting match up, with Harrold winning the first run and Mackay winning the second run, resulting in the third run being required to decide the winner.
After a hard-fought battle Mackay took the win, with Harrold finishing in second place and Kenworthy rounding out the podium in third at the first ever freeski iteration of The Snow League.
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