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21st January 2012

Three Kiwis Invited to Prestigious Winter X Games

Lake Wanaka, NZ (20 January 2012) Three of New Zealands top snow sports athletes, Jossi Wells, Carl Murphy and Rose Battersby, have been invited to the prestigious Winter X Games 16 and there's a possibility of a fourth, Rebecca "Possum" Torr being added as well. Torr is an alternate for snowboard slopestyle. The Winter X Games will be held this year from 26 to 29 January in Aspen, Colorado.

Wells, a former X Games Silver Medallist, is one of only two competitors to be invited to compete in all three ski disciplines (Big Air, Slopestyle and Halfpipe). He will compete alongside Tellurides Gus Kenworthy. Invitations to the X Games are difficult to earn, so being invited to compete in all three disciplines is a high compliment from the most coveted competition in the sport.

Carl Murphy, pictured above, will compete in the second ever X Games Adaptive Snowboard Cross

Snowboarder, Carl Murphy (Lake Hawea), will compete in Adaptive Snowboard Cross. After the disappointing news in August that Para-Snowboarding was turned down by the Sochi committee for inclusion in 2014 Paralympic Games the X Games gives me a new focus for my snowboarding career, said Murphy who also received an invite to the inaugural event in 2011 but was unable to accept given the impending birth of his first child.

Rose Battersby (pictured here in the halfpipe at the 2011 Winter Games NZ) will live out her dream of competing at a Winter X Games Credit: Camilla Stoddart/Getty Images

Up and comer, Rose Battersby (Taupo) is the third kiwi to receive an invite. Battersby who competed internationally for the first time last year is stoked to already be living out her long time dream of competing in the Winter X Games.

LINK : Snow Sports NZ