Alpine athlete Jack Adams, proudly sponsored by SapphireOne, is currently in New Zealand training with the Coberger Academy at Coronet Peak and Cardrona Alpine Resort His training forms part of his preparation for the upcoming European FIS race season, including the Europa Cup and Alpine World Championship events.
You can see Jack in action at Cardrona via the link below:
Video courtesy of Cardrona Alpine Resort and Ned Brannigan
Watching this level of focus, balance and precision is a powerful reminder of how satisfying it is when everything works in sync.
At SapphireOne, we apply that same philosophy to business systems. We work continuously to bring harmony to day-to-day operations through integrated, customisable software and API-driven solutions. If you would like to explore how seamless digital integration can help your business regain flow and efficiency, please get in touch or give us a call.
At SapphireOne we’re working continuously to bring more harmony into your day-to-day operations. Get in touch or give us a call to find out how our customisable API integrations and software solutions can offer your business seamless digital integrations, and help bring the flow back into your every day.
At Coronet Peak today, Jack Adams and Eliza Grigg were crowned the Alpine National Overall Combined Disciplines Champions.
Today marked the third and final day of the National Alpine Championships, National Para Alpine Championships and the National Alpine Junior Championships, with athletes competing in Slalom to close out the event.
Eliza Grigg, a Team Hutt athlete, has had a stellar National Championships campaign, earning a medal of each colour across the weekend. She finished first in Super-G on Friday, second in Giant Slalom on Saturday and third in Slalom today. Her performances over the 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,” Grigg said.
Jack Adams, representing Coberger Academy, won today’s Slalom race and finished second in both Giant Slalom yesterday and Super-G on Friday. Off the back of his strong results across all disciplines, Adams was awarded the men’s Overall Combined Disciplines Championship trophy for the first time.
“It is nice to get the overall, it’s a beautiful trophy,” Adams said. Reflecting on the Slalom race, he added, “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, the 2018 Winter Olympian, won both the Super-G and Giant Slalom over the weekend but recorded a DNF in Slalom, placing him second overall.
In the junior categories, Olivia Flight and Harrison Messenger were crowned the Junior Alpine National Overall Combined Disciplines Champions. Olivia, a Coberger Academy athlete, finished second in both Super-G and Giant Slalom and third in Slalom. Harrison, from the Wanaka Ski Team, enjoyed a dominant weekend, winning all three races to take out the men’s Junior Overall title.
World Cup Slalom athlete Piera Hudson delivered a standout performance in the women’s National Slalom Championships, winning by more than four seconds.
“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,” Hudson said.
Paralympians and World Cup Para athletes Adam Hall and Corey Peters continued their strong form. Hall claimed his third gold medal of the weekend by winning the men’s standing National Para Slalom, while Peters secured his third victory in the men’s sitting category. Kirstie Fairhurst was crowned the women’s sitting National Para Slalom Champion after completing two successful runs.
Today’s racing also doubled as a National Points race for under-14 and under-16 athletes. Their national champions will be crowned later this month at the Snowvision National Youth Championships, held at Cardrona from 25 September.
Once again the event drew a large international crowd including Belgium, Slovakia, Austria, Russia, Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, Norway, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Germany, USA, Japan, Canada, Sweden, Great Britain, Korea, Ireland and of course Australia. World Champion Ted Ligety was training on the hill and decided to drop into the Slalom events at the last minute. Fantastic opportunity for the athletes to watch the World Champion in action.
Jack and Theo just missed out on the all essential “flip” in the first run of GS coming 32ndand 33rdafter Run 1. If they had made the “flip” and come 29thand 30ththey would have been 1stand 2nd skiers in the 2nd run. A start that can make a difference of 2 seconds or more in the final result.
Day 2 the boys had a similar finish in Run 1 however Theo didn’t finish Run 2 and Jack made a few too many errors. Team mate Connor leap frogged both boys to finish an impressive 32nd.
The Slalom event as usual took it’s fair share of casualties with Jack and Connor not finishing Day 1, and Jack and Theo not finishing Day 2.
Jack (Slalom) and Theo (Giant Slalom) in action
Back-to-Back National titles
New Zealand racers Adam Barwood and Piera Hudson claimed back-to-back National titles at the National Championships. Barwood and Hudson claimed the Slalom Championship titles on Tuesday, having also been crowned Giant Slalom National Champions in Sunday’s race.
In the men’s field, defending NZ champion Adam Barwood never looked in too much danger of relinquishing his title, so long as he could hold on in the tricky snow conditions. After the first run Adam was placed fifth with Willis Feasey as his closest teammate way back in 19th place.
As it was, a mistake in the bottom half of the course on run two would put an end to Feasey’s second run charge for the men’s national championship title while Barwood hung on, dropping back to eighth overall but managing to retain the men’s slalom title for another year.
The women’s leader after the first run, Hudson started 30th in run two and had to battle the ruts to get to the finish. A few mistakes on the bumpy course cost her the overall lead, finishing in sixth place overall, but taking the National Ladies’ Slalom title.
Congratulations to all the competitors and good luck to those competing in the Australia New Cup starting next week (August 20) in Mt Hotham, Victoria, Australia.
Training continues at Coronet Peak for majority of the Team while races have started for others. Based at ‘Little Farm’ homestead, Dalefield, Queenstown the Team have been working hard over the last week.
Jack Adams, Connor Leggett, Shaun Findlay with their Austrian team mates have continued to hit the training hill at Coronet Peak. With ideal conditions of sunny skies and icy snow they have been able to maximise their time on the hill.
Coach Raphael Galleris kept busy videoing every run of every athlete (video of Jack going hard in GS attached) so he and the athlete can do a thorough analysis at the end of the day, all part of the training routine.
While the team continued their training Theo Coatestravelled with the New Zealand Ski Team to compete in the Cardrona Tech Series Slalom races. Jack was also scheduled to compete in this event however a crash during training the day before led to him pulling out of the race at the last minute.
Theo didn’t finish Race 1 however in Race 2 he managed to ski from a start of 32ndto a finish position of 14th. Congratulations to Theo on a great start to the race season.
Cardrona Ski Field is located above the magnificent town of Wanaka. Located in the stunning alps of the South Island in New Zealand, visitors from around the world are drawn to the Wanaka region by its outstanding natural beauty. Wanaka’s lakes and mountains and proximity to Mt Aspiring National Park,makes it the ultimate base for outdoor activities.
These two weeks training for the Team is the lead up to the National Championships Coronet Peak, Queenstown starting this Sunday August 12 and running for four days through to Wednesday August 15. Over the four days there will be four slalom and four giant slalom events (two mens and two womens of each discipline).
After the four days of racing the New Zealand National Champion will be announced. Following is a video from the 2017 National Championships. In 2017 this race drew a large international field including athletes from Slovakia, Slovenia, Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, USA, Netherlands, Norway, Liechtenstein, Norway, Canada, Italy, Greece, Sweden, Japan, Phillipines, Great Britain, Belgium, Austria, Germany, Nepal and of course Australia. Below is a photo of Slovakian athlete Richie Leitgeb (Austria)in a race suit made to represent his national costume with SapphireOne Team athlete Theo Coates.
Watch out for the next blog that will have highlights of the results from this exciting event. Team athletes racing this weekend are Jack Adams (NSW), Theo Coates (NSW), Connor Leggett (QLD) and Shaun Findlay (VIC). We wish the SapphireOne Team athletes and all competitors good luck and safe racing.
National Championships Coronet Peak, New Zealand, 2017
After two weeks skills and gate training at Round Hill Lake Tekapo and Mt Dobson the SapphireOne Alpine Ski Team split up as they leave the McKenzie country in South Canterbury. The team had a fantastic time in the region, even having time to go trout fishing, Warwick Crawford was pleased to catch some of New Zealand’s finest trout.
Meanwhile Jack Adams heads down to Central Otago to join team member Theo Coates at the home of New Zealand Olympian Adam Barword in magnificent Queenstown.
Jack has one week before heading home to Sydney, back to University of NWS (UNSW) for a week, then heads back to join the team in Queenstown. Theo will stay with Adam for two weeks before joining Jack and the rest of the team.
The New Zealand Alpine team will all be training at Coronet Peak Queenstown over the coming weeks alongside our SapphireOne Alpine Team for the upcoming New Zealand Championships, to be held on the 12 to 15 August 2018. The New Zealand Alpine Ski Races are always well supported by a large range of international teams from some of the ski nations powerhouses such as the Austria Ski Team and the USA Ski Team.
A few members of the SapphireOne team started their southern hemisphere winter season campaign in the South Island of New Zealand this week, in the spectacular McKenzie country, basing themselves at Lake Tekapo.
Jack Adams, Warwick Crawford and Hugh McAdam have had a busy first week for the start of the season focusing on Giant Slalom skills, drills, and lots of race gates. The rest of the team, Theo Coates, Connor Leggett and Shaun Findlay will join them in New Zealand at the end of July, where they will all move to the adventure capital of the world, Queenstown.
The Alpine Ski Team were blessed with another two days of good weather and conditions as the week comes to an end.
The first day saw plans to train at Round Hill Ski Field cancelled as the resort closed due to the classic northwester which put them on wind hold. With a quick change of plan on the second day, the Team headed to Ohau Snowfields nestled deep in the McKenzie High Country, on the shores of Lake Ohau.
Wednesday everything was back on schedule as the alpine ski Team hit the slopes of Round Hill Ski Field. With breathtaking views of Aoraki Mt Cook, the Southern Alps and Lake Tekapo, Round Hill Ski Field set the perfect back drop to train on full length Giant Slalom courses with perfect conditions.
Saturday is a day off, then training starts again with a full week Slalom block at Mt Dobson Ski Field.
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