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Posted on Wednesday September 1st at 8:06 p.m.
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The on-snow competition was complemented by the overall significance of the championships; for the number of world firsts attained; for the potential Olympic implications, and for the unique opportunities it afforded rising stars from New Zealand and from 27 other countries that were represented at the championships.
The ski slopestyle competition at Snow Park, for example, marked the first time the International Ski Federation (FIS) has staged a major ski slopestyle event. The idea was first proposed to FIS by Snow Sports New Zealand as an initial step toward consideration for inclusion in the Olympic Games.
"Snow Sports New Zealand deserves a lot of credit for taking a leadership role in developing freestyle skiing within FIS," said FIS Freestyle Coordinator Joe Fitzgerald. "Slopestyle is a great spectacle, and this week's Junior World Championships provided an ideal stage for some of the world's top competitors. It was a big step forward for freestyle skiing."
Sunday also marked new levels of excellence in the ski halfpipe competition. The event is currently being considered by the International Olympic Committee for inclusion in the 2014 Olympic programme, and many are positive that it will make the cut following unanimous support from FIS member countries.
"Freestyle skiing has undergone enormous change in the past decade, and it's all been driven by a new generation of skiers who have embraced these disciplines, and who have brought their own style to the sport," said Snow Sports New Zealand Chief Executive Ross Palmer. "It's been interesting to watch how the best park and pipe skiers have gained the respect of their snowboarding counterparts, and vice versa. The cultures of the two sports are actually quite similar."
It is this common culture, and the fact that in many instances these sports utilise the same facilities, that led SSNZ to begin discussing the concept of a combined event with FIS more than one year ago.
"Combining the sports had never been done before in a FIS championship event, so there were many wrinkles that needed to be ironed out before we could go forward with the competition," said Palmer. "I owe a great debt of gratitude to the entire FIS Freestyle Committee for their willingness to take a few risks by trying something that hadn't been done before. Feedback from the competitors, coaches and officials has been very supportive of doing this again in the future."
Sarah Lewis, FIS Secretary General, added: "There is great synergy between the new Freestyle and Snowboard competition forms that use the same infrastructure for halfpipe, slopestyle and the ski and snowboard cross course. The FIS World Championships in Kreischberg Austria in 2015 will also feature both disciplines for the first time at a senior level, and there is significant interest to create joint World Cup events too."
The past 11 days of competition also included the first-ever snowboard slopestyle competition in a FIS World Championship. Like ski halfpipe, snowboard slopestyle is up for consideration for inclusion in the 2014 Olympics following proposals put forward by SSNZ and several other National Ski Associations to the FIS Congress to grant the sport World Championship status, a precursor for inclusion in the Olympics.
"The exciting part of this is that New Zealand currently has athletes who are at or near the top of the world rankings in these disciplines," said Palmer. "It's a safe bet that if ski halfpipe had been on the programme in Vancouver that at least one New Zealander, probably either Jossi or Byron Wells, would have wound up on the podium. Our goal at SSNZ is to give New Zealand's top freeskiers the opportunity to achieve that in Sochi in 2014."
The same can be said about snowboard slopestyle. Ohakune's Shelly Gotlieb is currently ranked eighth in the world, and rising. She has achieved three podium results in the Burton Global Open Series, including second place at snowboarding's pinnacle event, the Burton US Open in March, followed by another second place finish at the Burton New Zealand Open.
"The snowboard halfpipe competition in Vancouver was one of the highlights of this year's Olympics, and its popularity has paved the way for ski halfpipe and for ski and snowboard slopestyle," added Palmer.
The just concluded Junior World Championships also included the first-ever FIS ski cross held in New Zealand, which provided an opportunity for New Zealand's top junior ski racers to have a go at this relatively new sport.
Queenstown's Mitchey Greig was the first New Zealander to compete in ski cross when it was introduced to the Olympic programme in Vancouver earlier this year. Greig was a forerunner at Saturday's Junior World Championship competition at Cardrona.
"The events crew at Cardrona really stepped up to build a world-class ski and snowboard cross course," said Palmer. "Major events like the Junior World Champs can help spur development of great new facilities and terrain improvements that leave a fantastic legacy for New Zealand's snow sports athletes who aspire to compete at the highest level."
Wanaka's Rebecca Sinclair took advantage of her local knowledge of the local terrain by capturing second place in last week's Junior World Championship halfpipe competition.
"We can't stage international competitions at this level without the direct support of the ski resorts, and both Snow Park and Cardrona made significant investments in their facilities to allow this to happen," Palmer added.
"Snow Sports New Zealand is proud of its leadership role in developing freestyle skiing and snowboarding. We are confident that by staging the first-ever FIS ski slopestyle and the first-ever snowboard slopestyle world championship in the same competition, we are laying the foundation for the progression of these sports toward inclusion in the Olympic programme."