World Cup Podium for New Zealand Snowboarder

James Hamilton (Auckland) attained a well-deserved podium placing for New Zealand in the World Cup Snowboarding event in Valmalenco, Italy, today.

Hamilton took out bronze, and became the first New Zealand male snowboarder to achieve a podium position in a World Cup event. This was his first Halfpipe World Cup finals competition, securing an overall ranking of 21st in the FIS World Cup series. His flawless final run saw him complete a series of complex arial manoeuvres when boosted out of the halfpipe. Crispin Lipscomb (CAN) gained gold and Louri Podladtchikov (SUI) placed second.

The New Zealand Snowboard Team had strong performances in the halfpipe, the final event of the 2008 FIS World Cup. Wanaka rider Paula Mitchell posted her best ever World Cup result finishing in 13th place and in the men’s field Ben Stewart (Whangamata), new to the national senior team this year, finished with a career best result of 11th position.

Tom Willmott, Head Coach NZ Snowboard Team is delighted with these results especially James’ medal achievement, “It is great to see their hard work come to fruition, demonstrating the great talent and depth of the New Zealand team,”

“The team was hunting down valuable top-30 end of season rankings to gain quota spots for New Zealand at next year’s all important Olympic qualifying season. The results mean New Zealand have three men’s and three women’s starts at the FIS World Cup to challenge for spots at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. An excellent climax to the FIS World Cup Snowboard tour,” he concluded.
The team now head to Stratton Mountain in Vermont, US to compete at the prestigious US Open held this coming weekend. The next World Cup will be staged in New Zealand this September.