A further eight snow sport athletes have been named to the New Zealand Team for the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, the New Zealand Olympic Committee [NZOC] has announced.
The NZOC took New Zealand's total number of Beijing-bound Winter Olympians to 14 on Thursday morning with six freeski athletes and two snowboarders named.
Gustav Legnavsky was one of those named with the 16-year-old set to be the youngest member of the team when he competes in freeski halfpipe.
Legnavsky will be joined by fellow debutant Ben Harrington and Miguel Porteous in the men’s freeski halfpipe, along with previously-selected Nico Porteous.
“It’s amazing, this time last year it was only a dream," Legnavsky said.
"It’s going to be surreal to be wearing the fern, I have been wanting to have the New Zealand fern on my arm and compete for my country."
Tiarn Collins will get a second shot at making his Olympic debut after a cruel injury in training just days before the PyeongChang 2018 Games forced him to withdraw.
Collins heads into the Games in top form, having claimed bronze in the men's slopestyle at Mammoth Mountain World Cup earlier this month.
He is joined by fellow snowboarder Cool Wakushima who will be competing in the women’s snowboard slopestyle and big air.
“When I found out I had been selected I was excited, I just couldn’t wait to tell my family. I am incredibly proud to drop into the Olympic events wearing the fern, I am really proud to be able to represent New Zealand,” Wakushima said.
“During the qualification period, I just focused on landing good runs and getting good results, I put a lot of work into the quality of my riding and knew the Olympics would come if I worked hard enough.”
Wakushima said she was "stoked" to be riding alongside Zoi Sadowski-Synnott in Beijing.
“I’ve always been inspired by Zoi and I am so excited to be on the team with her. Zoi inspired me to compete on the world stage, so it’s awesome to be her Winter Olympic teammate.”
Also named to the team was Chloe McMillan, Anja Barugh and Ben Barclay with Barclay coming into the Games in hot form as well after claiming silver in the France Freeski Slopestyle World Cup earlier this week.
Nic Cavanagh, Snow Sports NZ CEO and High Performance Director, said he was delighted to add such strong talent to the squad weeks out from the event.
“These athletes have worked exceptionally hard in a challenging environment and I couldn’t be more pleased for them”.
“We are sending an incredibly strong team to Beijing and I’m really looking forward to seeing them in action on the world’s biggest stage”.
The eight named Thursday join their snow sports teammates Alice Robinson, Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, Nico Porteous, Margaux Hackett and Finn Bilous who were named to the New Zealand Team last year.
The 14th member of the New Zealand team is speed skater Peter Michael who was selected on Wednesday.
The NZOC said a final opportunity for selection will take place for remaining hopefuls within the next week.
Winter Olympians named Thursday for Beijing Games
Ben Barclay (Freeski Slopestyle & Big Air)
Gustav Legnavsky (Freeski Halfpipe)
Anja Barugh (Freeski Halfpipe)
Miguel Porteous (Freeski Halfpipe)
Ben Harrington (Freeski Halfpipe)
Chloe McMillan (Freeski Halfpipe)
Tiarn Collins (Snowboard Slopestyle & Big Air)
Cool Wakushima (Snowboard Slopestyle & Big Air)
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