NZL WINTER GAMES. In just ten days or so, the 100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games will be getting underway. The biggest event of the Southern hemisphere winter season takes place from 12th-28th August 2011 featuring 22 snow and ice sports over 38 events and involving 1,000 elite athletes from 50 nations. The first of the season's FIS World Cup series to commence, the LG Snowboard FIS World Cup will also see its season opening in conjunction with the 100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games with the ladies' and men's halfpipe competitions scheduled for 27th-28th August.

In Alpine Skiing, the slalom and giant slalom competitions - which will count for the Australia-New Zealand Cup in Alpine Skiing (ANC) will be held at Coronet Peak and the super-G competitions at Mt Hutt. Several top World Cup athletes, including Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal and Kjetil Jansrud, are expected to compete. The Winter Games NZ is unique in that it is the world's only elite snow sports competition that features both able bodied and adaptive athletes competing over the same course.

The Cross-Country Skiing events, also part of the respective FIS ANC series, at Snow Farm, near Wanaka, from 13th-16th August are expected to be dominated by the Canadian and Russian teams, along with many-time World Cup winner, Justyna Kowalczyk (POL)

In Freestyle Skiing, the first FIS freestyle skiing slopestyle competition since the announcement that it will be included in the Sochi 2014 Games will be carried out, too.

The 16-day long Games also include a full downtown festival program featuring films, live music and entertainment and rail jam extravaganzas in Queenstown, Lake Wanaka, Dunedin and Methven. The on-snow competitions will take place at Coronet Peak, Cardrona Alpine Resort, Snow Park NZ, Snow Farm and Mt Hutt with the ice sports taking place at Naseby and Dunedin.

For further information, visit www.wintergamesnz.com

FIS news
03/08/2011

Top X Country skiers confirm

A strong field is shaping up for the cross country competition at 100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games with the confirmation of Olympic gold, silver and bronze medallist, Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland in the women's event and a world class Canadian men's team.

Kowalczyk earned three of her medals in last year's Winter Olympics at Whistler, together with a bronze at the 2006 Olympics in Italy. She also has 15 World Cup victories to her name, along with 38 World Cup podiums and is currently ranked number one in the world.

Among her rivals will be New Zealand's Sarah Murphy who trains at Snow Farm near Wanaka where the Winter Games NZ cross country competition is held. Murphy made history in 2010 when she became New Zealand's first biathlete to compete at the Winter OIympics. With her goal of placing top 10 at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, the high level of competition on her home ground will provide Murphy with valuable competition experience during Winter Games NZ.

The four-strong Canadian men's team is made up three Olympians, including national number one, Devon Kershaw, together with national sprint champion, Lenny Valjas. The Canadians dominated the 2009 Winter Games NZ, taking home 14 of the available 16 cross country medals, including a gold and silver for Kershaw.

Adaptive and able-bodied athletes will race together in a series of multi-discipline races at Snow Farm near Lake Wanaka from 13-16 August.

Athletes competing in the adaptive category include Japan's Yoshihiro Nitta who took out two gold medals for cross-country sprint and classic in the 2010 Winter Paralympics. He is joined by teammate Shoko Ota who won silver at the Paralympics in the sprint discipline.

Other competing nations include Australia, Brazil, Korea, Peru, Switzerland and the USA. Race disciplines are 10km/15km classic interval start, sprint and 5km/10km freestyle interval start.

wintergamesnz.com
Wednesday July 20th 2011

Olympic gold medallist confirms

A quality field of the world's elite snow and ice sports athletes has already been confirmed for 100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games, including Olympic medallists and world champions, with entries still open for several weeks.

Athletes from 20 nations have already confirmed their spot at the Games, including Olympic gold medallist, Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway. Svindal took out three medals at the last Winter Olympics, a gold in the Super G, silver in downhill and bronze in the giant slalom. He is also multiple FIS World Champion and has 14 World Cup victories to his name. Svindal is joined by team mate Kjetil Jansrud who took out silver in the giant slalom at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

As well as racing the giant slalom at Coronet Peak in Queenstown, Svindal and Jansrud will also take on the World Cup standard Super G course at Mt Hutt, Canterbury. It was the quality of this course that saw 100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games expand into Canterbury for 2011.

"It's still early days for nations to be entering their teams and to get such a high calibre entry from Norway shows just how high the level of competition is going to be," said Winter Games NZ CEO, Arthur Klap. "Also what better way than having an Olympic gold medallist racing at Mt Hutt to show the world that the majority of Canterbury is business as usual, despite the earthquakes. The importance of international promotion of the Canterbury ski fields at this time cannot be underestimated."

Korea has confirmed it will send a 51 strong team with athletes competing in curling, cross country skiing, alpine skiing, figure skating, speed skating, freeski and snowboarding while Slovenia is sending Silka Cadar, current Junior World Champion in snowboard halfpipe and fourth in the world on the TTR rankings.

wintergamesnz.com
Monday June 20th 2011

WGNZ to make snow sports history

New Zealand is once again leading the way in the evolution of competitive snow sports with the announcement that August's 100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games will feature dual sanctioning between TTR (Ticket to Ride) and FIS (Federation International de Ski) for snowboard events and FIS and AFP (Association of Freeski Professionals) for free ski events. The event will also feature the first ever FIS sanctioned freeski big air event.

New Zealand was instrumental in getting freeski halfpipe and ski cross events included in the 2014 Winter Olympics following the FIS Snowboard & Freestyle Junior World Championships in 2010 in Lake Wanaka which marked the first time freeski and snowboarding had been combined at a world championship level.

Now in another world first, 100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games will host a FIS freeski big air event. The inclusion of freeski big air by FIS in its sanctioning programme is an indication of the growing stature the sport is receiving on the elite global competitive circuit. At Winter Games NZ, freeski slopestyle, halfpipe and big air will be dual sanctioned by FIS at Continental Cup level and by AFP at Silver Star level.

In the 100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games' snowboarding programme, the slopestyle and big air will both be dual sanctioned at TTR 3* level and FIS Continental Cup level.

"New Zealand punches way above its weight in terms of the influence it has had on global competitive snow sports over the last few years," said Winter Games NZ CEO, Arthur Klap. "What we produced at the junior world championships essentially secured the inclusion of freeskiing into the Winter Olympics and now we're proud to deliver another influential competition with the first ever FIS freeski big air. This is huge for the sport as it receives official recognition from FIS and is also great for New Zealand given our strong history in freeskiing with such athletes as the Wells brothers."

wintergamesnz.com
Monday May 30th 2011

100% PURE NEW ZEALAND WINTER GAMES – AUGUST 12-28, 2011
QUEENSTOWN, LAKE WANAKA, NASEBY, DUNEDIN, METHVEN

Sixteen days, 38 events, 22 sports, 1,000 athletes, 50 nations and an audience of millions – welcome to 100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games. The world’s top snow and ice sports athletes from all corners of the globe will descend upon New Zealand’s Southern Alps and take on the best in ski racing to curling, snowboarding to skating as well as adaptive snow sports.

100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games is the ultimate testing ground where elite athletes can experiment and explore performance limits against world-class competition. The programme includes World Cup and Continental Cup level events and will act for many as the starting point on their journey to the 2014 Winter Olympics.

The 16-day long Games also includes a full off-snow festival, Downtown Sessions, featuring an Adventure Film Festival, live music and entertainment and Adventure Expo, as well as bringing the mountain downtown in a series of big air and rail jam extravaganzas in Queenstown, Lake Wanaka, Dunedin and Methven.

100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games will take place at Coronet Peak, Cardrona Alpine Resort, Snow Park NZ, Snow Farm, Mt Hutt, Naseby and Dunedin from August 12-28 2011.

For further information, visit www.wintergamesnz.com