Twenty year old Nico Porteous from Wanaka has once again proven he is the one to beat by taking the win at the Mammoth Mountain Freeski Halfpipe World Cup with an incredible score of 97.00 out of 100.
After a bobble on his right double 1620 landing in run one had him sitting in 8th position, the pressure was on for run two. Nico was the only athlete who could upset the all American podium at this point in the event.
He put the pedal down, lacing together back to back double 1620’s, the biggest trick of the day performed not only once, but twice in his run and was rewarded with a massive score of 97.00.
“It was pretty tough, the last few competitions I haven’t skied at my best so the bobble in run one was a bit frustrating to be honest,” said Porteous.
“I spoke with my coach Tommy at the bottom and we decided it was all or nothing, so I should attempt that run again and just do my best”.
Today was the final Freeski Halfpipe World Cup before Nico heads to the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.
“It gives me a lot of confidence going into Beijing, I was concerned that I wasn’t quite where I thought I was, so to get the win today is really epic”.
Nico’s older brother Miguel Porteous put down a really solid performance to finish in 5th place. Fellow Kiwi Ben Harrington achieved a career best result with a 6th place finish at his second World Cup finals appearance, his first being just a week ago in Calgary, Canada. 16 year old freeskier Gustav Legnavsky has also achieved a career best result this morning, finishing in 8th place in his first ever World Cup final.
David Wise (USA), two time Winter Olympic Halfpipe Champion (PyeongChang 2018 and Sochi 2014) finished in second place and Aaron Blunck (USA) rounded out the podium in third.
