NZsnowboard.com

6th September 2008

 LAKE WANAKA, New Zealand The 2008/2009 season of the LG FIS Snowboard World Cup kicked off in style today with a full field of the worlds top snowboarders taking on the Southern Hemispheres largest halfpipe at Cardrona Alpine Resort in New Zealand.

Clear blue skies, no wind and crisp cold temperatures provided perfect conditions for the mens and womens qualifiers. There were no surprises in the first mens heat with current top ranked FIS rider, Ryoh Aono, taking out the top spot and a secured place in the finals with the highest scoring run of the day. After a disappointing first run, he pulled out all the stops in run two, impressing judges with his trademark massive amplitude and consistently landed tricks which included frontside 7s and 9s, a back 5 and a cab 7. He is joined in the finals by Broc Waring (USA) and Kohhei Kudoh (JPN).

Heat two of the mens put a smile on the faces of the home crowd with Kiwis Ben Stewart and James Hamilton both qualifying for tomorrows semi final. Top finals qualifying spot went to Kohdai Watanabe (JPN) whose second run featured a backside stale, frontside 7, cab 7, frontside 9, finishing with a backside 5. German Olympian, Christophe Schmidt, who was competing for the first time since taking a year off due to injury, qualified second with two very consistent runs while Daisuke Murakami (JPN) took the third spot for instant finals qualification in heat two.

With the six top riders going straight through to the finals, the remaining 12 male qualifiers will have to battle it out in the semi finals for a coveted spot in the finals. New Zealanders Stewart and Hamilton lead the way followed by Ben Kilner (GBR). The 2008 World Cup Halfpipe Champion, Iouri Podladtichikov (SUI), just snuck in as the last qualifier in heat two, perhaps saving his best for the semi finals and finals tomorrow.

In the womens competition Jiayu Liu (CHN) continued her domination of the womens competition with a convincing top qualifying score of 41.6 ahead of Japans Shiho Nakashima. Lius run was both big and technical with a good combination of spins that featured a frontside 5, backside 5, frontside 7 and a cab 3. The third womens final qualifier was Sina Candrian of Switzerland.

The six womens semi-finals qualifiers include Juliane Bray, who will be New Zealands sole female representative in tomorrows semi finals.

The LG FIS Snowboard World Cup concludes tomorrow (Sunday September 7) at Cardrona Alpine Resort with the semi finals starting at 10.00am and finals scheduled for 12.00pm. For further information, visit www.fis-ski.com or  www.snowsports.co.nz.




LINKS:
www.snowsports.co.nz
www.fis-ski.com



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For further media information, please contact:
Victoria Murray-Orr, EveNZ
T: +64 3 443 2700  E: vmo@evenz.co.nz