After the wild weather of previous days, conditions mellowed but tricks remained intense for the freeski halfpipe. American skier Taylor Seaton took gold in the men’s competition following his second place in the Volkl NZ Freeski Open at the same venue nine days before.

The winner of that event, local favourite Jossi Wells, couldn’t repeat his success at Winter Games NZ and pulled out early into his first run due to a knee injury.

David Wise of the USA came second in the men’s event after nailing a double flare in his second run – one of the tricks of the day. This pushed Xavier Bertoni of France into third place. Lyndon Sheehan of Wanaka was the top Kiwi, flying into fifth place with a great first run.

In the women’s event, Swiss skier Mirjam Jaeger was a clear winner ahead of Rosalind Groenewoud. Fellow Canadian, Dania Assaly just edged FIS world number two Anais Caradeux from France out of the medals.

Mirjam Jaeger said, “I just feel great – what else is there to say? I’m super stoked right now. I love New Zealand. I’m definitely going to be back next year!” Janina Kuzma was the highest placed New Zealand woman in 5th place.

Head judge Phil Larose was impressed by the competition at Cardrona, “It went super well. Organisation here was really professional and the athletes felt very comfortable – as if they were competing at X-Games”.

Photo: Mirjam Jaeger competes in women's halfpipe. Source: Getty Images

The curling finals being held today in Naseby are turning into a huge contest between world-class teams . In the men’s competition, Australia and China are going head-to head for gold, and Korea and Japan are battling it out for bronze. In the women’s final, Japan is up against world champion, China for gold, and Korea and New Zealand are playing for bronze.

In yesterday’s play, China beat USA in the men’s tie-breaker 9-6 to go in the semi-finals at fourth position, playing Japan who finished first in the standings. In the semi-final game Japan (first) lost to China (fourth) with a final score of 11-3. In the other men’s semi-final, Australia (third) played Korea (second) in what was a long and intensive game, but Australia eventually took it out beating Korea 7-5.

In the women’s first semi-final, Japan (second) played Korea (third) in a strong and competitive game, Japan eventually edging out Korea 6-5. In the second women’s semi-final New Zealand made world champion, China work extremely hard for its victory. The final score was 7- 4 to China. NZ Skip Bridget Becker said her team-mates, who live in different cities and only had four practices before the tournament did well against what are essentially professional curlers. “We had nothing to lose,” she said. “Our team is just getting better and better.”

The country’s first international ice figure skating competition got underway yesterday and by the end of the day Korean skaters were the top point scorers in all four events held at the Dunedin Ice Stadium.

Korean Min Seok Kim leads the Men’s Junior section with his outstanding performance in the short programme. Kihara Ryuichi from Japan is in second place and Simon Hardy from Australia is in third place.

In the Junior Women’s short programme, despite a fall during her routine, Hyeon Jeong Kim from Korea outclassed seven other competitors. Australia’s National Junior Champion, Jaimee Nobbs is in second place. Ariel Nadas was the highest scoring New Zealander and is presently sitting in fifth place.

Leading the Women’s Novice section after the short programme is So Youn Park from Korea, almost 14 points ahead of the closest competitor, Madeline Parker from New Zealand. Leading the Men’s Novice section is Korean Doug Won Lee. His closest rival is Australian Oliver Porter.

The best skaters from Korea, Japan, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand have been attracted to this three-day competition, an event, which is providing the competitors with a great build up for next year’s Winter Olympics in Canada. While the Koreans have impressed with their performance on ice, the Korean Team Management have been so impressed with the international standard of the facilities at the Dunedin Ice Stadium they have expressed interest in retuning to Dunedin next year to train at the Stadium for three months.

The President of the New Zealand Ice Skating Association, Sandra Williamson Ledley, says the standard and maintenance of the ice in Dunedin has impressed all the international judges. “There’s been a fantastic response to the facilities here and the ice is considered to be up with the best in the world.”

Photo:  Kihara Ryuichi of Japan.  Source: Getty Images

Competition was intense in the adaptive slalom, which was held on a World Cup standard course at Coronet Peak today, with Australia and Germany winning two golds apiece and the third going to the United States.

New Zealand’s stand out performer 21-year-old Adam Hall, ranked second in slalom in the world, won silver in the men’s standing category to the excitement of the large crowd gathered to watch the highly specialised event.

The course was set on the slalom hill in the Rocky Gully Arena and IPC Race Director Erik Petersen of the USA said it was a challenging track making for a great race.

The hotly contested men’s standing division was won by Australia’s Toby Kane, Adam Hall took out second while Australia’s Mitchell Gourley a member of the Australian Paralympics team finished third.

World Cup skier and Paralympian Martin Braxenthaler of Germany won his second Winter Games gold medal when he took out the men’s sitting slalom title by a clear margin ahead of Erik Bayindirli of the USA. Great Britain’s Timothy Farr won bronze.

The women’s visually impaired gold medal was won by Jessica Gallagher of Australia and her guide Eric Bickerton, heading off Caitlin Sarubbi and guide Gwynn Watkins of the United States.

Germany’s Andrea Rothfuss continued her form to win her second gold medal of the Winter Games when she clearly won the women’s standing division. Australia’s Emily Jansen came in second.

USA’s Alana Nichols also made it a double gold when she won the sitting women’s slalom. Two other competitors, Anna Tourney and Jane Sowerby, both of Great Britain failed to finish the race.

Photo: Adam Hall competes in Standing Men LW1 Slalom.  Source: Getty Images

Christchurch’s Nathan Anglem dominated the taxrefunds.co.nz Winter Triathlon this morning at the 100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games, putting a kilometre between himself and his nearest competitor.

Anglem, is a cross country-skiing specialist and he has the 2010 Winter Olympics in his sights.

The taxrefunds.co.nz Winter Triathlon is a demonstration sport at Winter Games and consists of a 7km run followed by a 12km mountain bike ride and 10km cross country ski, all on hard packed snow.

Behind Anglem in the men’s race were Ben Koons from Wanaka and Andrew Pohl from Dunedin in third.

In the women’s race first-time racer Laetitia Roux from France decided to rent some gear and give it a go. She took first place and is now considering entering the World Winter Triathlon Championships. Andrea Fancy from Wellington came second and Christchurch’s Yvonne Pfluger was in third.

Triathlon New Zealand CEO Dave Beech was at Snowfarm to watch the winter version of his sport for the first time and said he thought it was an exciting and dynamic sport. “I think this is a great sport. It really does look tough. Not often do you see top competitors as these, cramping up and there was more than one out there looking for attention. If we can get sufficient interest in the sport then I think it can go places, he said.

Winter Triathlon is set to be a demonstration sport at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Photo: Nathan Anglem and Yvonne Pfluger compete in the Winter Triathlon.  Source: Getty Images