Today was the third and final day of the National Alpine Championships, National Para Alpine Championships and the National Alpine Junior Championships with the athletes competing in Slalom today.
Eliza Grigg, a Team Hutt athlete, has had a stellar Alpine National Championships, earning a medal of each colour this weekend finishing first in Super G on Friday, second in Giant Slalom yesterday and third is Slalom today. Her achievements over the last three days resulted in her being crowned the women’s Overall Combined Disciplines Champion. “This is my first time winning the overall which I am super excited about, it’s been a lot of work”.
Jack Adams, a Coberger Academy athlete, won the Slalom race today and finished second in both Giant Slalom yesterday and in Super G on Friday. Off the back of his fantastic results this weekend, Jack was awarded the men’s Overall Combined Disciplines Championship trophy for his first time. “It is nice to get the overall, it’s a beautiful trophy”. Winning the Slalom today, Jack explained that “It’s been a good competition with Willis this weekend and I prefer slalom, I know he prefers Giant Slalom, so I was hoping for a good race between us but unfortunately he straddled on the first run”. Willis Feasey, 2018 Winter Olympian, who won both the Super G and Giant Slalom this weekend had a DNF on his Slalom landing him in second place overall.
Olivia Flight and Harrison Messenger are the Junior Alpine National Combined Disciplines Overall Champions. Olivia, a Coberger Academy athlete, finished second in both Super G and Giant Slalom this weekend and finished third today in Slalom. Harrison, a Wanaka Ski Team athlete, had a fantastic weekend winning all three races, resulting in him being the clear winner of the men’s Junior Overall Championships.
Piera Hudson, World Cup Slalom athlete, blew the competition out of the water today when she won the women’s National Slalom Championships over four seconds ahead of the second place time. Piera enjoyed the Slalom course today, explaining that “first run, there was a little bit of a whoopsie, but I managed to recover and get back in there and then just had to go full charge to make up for it”.
Adam Hall and Corey Peters, Paralympians and World Cup Para athletes, both continued to carry their momentum from the past two days. Adam won the men’s standing National Para Slalom, his third gold medal this weekend. Corey won the men’s sitting National Para Slalom race, also his third win of the weekend. Kirstie Fairhurst is the women’s sitting National Para Slalom Champion after completing two successful runs on the course.
The race today was also a National Points race for under 14 and under 16 athletes, whose national champions will be crowned at the Snowvision National Youth Championships held at Cardrona starting on the 25th of September.
