Snow Sports New Zealand is thrilled with Minister Robertson’s announcement about the increase in investment for the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic quadrennial and new investment into Freeride.
Snow Sports NZ CEO Nic Cavanagh said, “The increase in investment for the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic cycle, along with the first time we have received investment into Freeride is fantastic. This allows us to support deeper down the pathway with both a high performance and wellbeing-focussed approach for our athletes and staff, whilst maintaining tailored support to our medal capable campaigns. I am incredibly proud of our team for the results they have achieved over the last four years and the way the athletes have conducted themselves on the worlds slopes. Thank you to Minister Robertson and High Performance Sport New Zealand for their support of our campaigns.”
An increase in our core funding has allowed Snow Sports NZ to provide more support, both on and off snow, for National Development and High Performance Development athletes.
Luke Hetzel, Snow Sports NZ High Performance Manager, explains “Being able to provide world class support on and off snow further down the pathway enables us to ensure young athletes have the right support at the right times in their careers to develop holistically and safely into future elite athletes.”
The increase in funding for Performance Support (including but not limited to Physio, Nutrition, Sports Psych and Wax Technicians) has allowed us to provide additional support to our athletes from National Development through to Elite Podium.
Direct investment in the wellbeing space will be beneficial across the entire programme, including staff.
“A key to delivering in results in the next four years is balancing the rigours and demands of being a high performance athlete and the intrinsic joy they derive from living and performing in the mountains. HPSNZ is partnering with Snow Sports NZ to ensure there is balance by investing in wellbeing initiatives,” explained Cavanagh.
The HPSNZ shift from Carded Athletes and Performance Enhancement Grants (PEGS) to Tailored Athlete Pathway Support (TAPS) supports performance and wellbeing for our athletes.
Five-time Paralympic Athlete Adam Hall explains “The shift from PEGS to TAPS will give an incredible increase in the opportunity and support for the programme’s development athletes. The biggest impact from an athlete's perspective, is that for so many years there has been a sole focus on having to reach seasonal performance targets at a "Pinnacle" event, year in and year out, to continue to maintain funding and support. Something which has been very challenging, and cutthroat as an athlete, to maintain and guarantee long term funding in a cycle. Funding as an athlete under TAPS provides a lot more security and certainty around the support you receive, and a bigger emphasis put on the athlete’s overall wellbeing and vision towards their end goal.”
Separate from the Milano Cortina 2026 quadrennial funding is the funding for a special project, the landing bag and dry slope. This allows Snow Sports NZ to bring the landing bag down out of the snow line to provide athletes with a year round cutting edge training facility.
20 months ago