As we head into the final 12 months of FIS World Cup competition before the next Winter Olympics in Korea in 2018, SnowsBest takes a tally of where Australia’s ski and snowboard athletes currently sit.
Australia’s budding Winter Olympians and Winter Paralympians are off to a good start this 2016/2017 competition season.
Britt Cox won her first, and Australia’s first female, gold FIS World Cup podium in moguls at the World Cup in Ruka Finland in December. Team mate, Matt Graham, won silver in the men’s event at the same World Cup. This puts our moguls team in prime position for the FIS World Cup at Val St Come near Montreal and the FIS World Cup in Calgary, both this month, before the big Deer Valley FIS World Cup events in the first week of February.
In Boader Cross, Belle Brockhoff took gold at Montafon in Austria with her first FIS World Cup first place. Alex ‘Chumpy’ Pullin scored bronze for the men at the same event. This again puts Australia in a prime position leading in to the FIS World Cup for boarder cross at Solitude in Utah on January 19 to 22.
Current World Champion Snowboarder Scotty James made a strong start to his 2016-2017 northern hemisphere season, finishing fourth in the halfpipe final at the US Snowboard Grand Prix/World Cup event in Copper Mountain, Colorado in December.
In Skier Cross Sami Kennedy-Sim equalled her best ever Ski Cross World Cup result after finishing fourth in Arosa, Switzerland in December and will, together with teammate Anton Grimus, compete in Italy in mid January.
Danielle Scott is on top of the world rankings for aerial skiing after a one, two win at the season opener in China. Scott won silver in the first final then gold in the one jump event alongside fellow Flying Kangaroo, Samantha Wells in third place for a bronze.
Watch our video interview with current world number one, Danielle Scott.
Then Team Australia won another bronze when Scott and Wells teamed up with David Morris in the Team World Cup event.
The aerial team have a fair bit of international travel coming up with FIS World Cup events at Deer Valley in Utah, Korea, Russia and Belarus.
Australia has been reaping the rewards in Para World Cups so far this season. Australian Para-Alpine skiers Mitchell Gourley and Melissa Perrine put their competition on notice, with five medals between them at the first World Cup of the season in Kuhtai, Austria.
Two-time Paralympian Gourley showed his strong form finishing on top of the podium in the men’s standing Giant Slalom race 2 and bronze in race 1. Perrine and her guide Andy Bor had an impressive and consistent performance, taking three medals from three races at the Kuhtai World Cup. Competing in the Visually Impaired category, the pair took silver in both Giant Slalom races as well as a bronze medal in the slalom.
Stay tuned for a full season of competition results right here.
