Tomorrows talent today - Ben Clatworthy, Racing & Sports Correspondent
Sunday August 22, 2010 - Email this article to a friend

FIS Snowboard & Freestyle Junior World Championships in New Zealand has opened spectacularly with the Snowboard Slopestyle competition. Four Brits are competing too. On show are the stars of tomorrow.

300 of the worlds best talent are taking part in the championships which includes 9 different disciplines; snowboard slopestyle, snowboard cross, snowboard halfpipe, snowboard parallel slalom and giant slalom, snowboard big air, freeski slopestyle, ski cross and freeski halfpipe.

They are aged between 13 and 20 and among them may well be the next Shaun White.

It's the first time a FIS World Championship has taken place in the Southern Hemisphere.

It's also the first time freeskiing and snowboarding have combined.

We previewed the event here on PlanetSKI earlier in the week so take a look if you want a bit more background information about the event.

It looked like the first day of competition might not see the light of day as an early morning blizzard swept across the resort of Lake Wanaka, however the weather quickly cleared providing perfect conditions for the opening events.

In the Men's Snowboard Slopestyle, Staale Sandbech of Norway took the win in convincing style ahead of second place rival Ville Paumola from Sweeden. Belgium's Seppe Smits finished in third place.

British competitor, Lewis Courtier-Jones, finished in 45th position overall, despite the competition being just his second FIS start since becoming a FIS Junior in 2009.

In the Woman's competition, Enni Rukajarvi of Finland won the event after recieveing a total of 41.1 points on her second jump from the judges.

Second place Urska Pribosic of Slovenia recorded a best score of 38.30.

Canadian competitor Samm Denena finished in third just 8 points shy of Urska.

"It's fantastic to see great conditions for the athletes although the wind is a bit challenging it's a spectacular setting and the event gives athletes an opportunity to perform at their best, helped by an amazing attention to detail by the organisers," said Dean Gosper, FIS Council member.

"Clearly the riding is at an elite level, as it should be in a World Championship, and I have no doubt the competition will continue to be very fierce throughout the week."

Check out the photos below from photographer, Bel Jones, and see more here.

Nicholas Sibayan (USA)