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New Zealand's most successful winter athlete, Jossi Wells has been making waves in the freeskiing world since the tender age of nine. The Olympian and six-time X Games medallist has been winning on the world stage for more than a decade. Disciplines: Slopestyle and Big Air. Hometown: Wanaka Career highlights: Six-time X Games medallist; Sochi 2014 Olympic Games 4th in halfpipe; 2010 AFP World Champion; X Games 2016 gold medalist in slopestyle. |
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Jossi Wells took to skis at the age of two and showed exceptional talent from a young age. Although his true passion has always been freeskiing, Jossi also honed his skills in ski racing until the age of 15. These days his focus is purely on freeskiing and he competes in the disciplines of slopestyle and big air having retired from halfpipe after the 2014 season.
Aged 16 Jossi was the youngest skier ever to compete at Winter X Games, and has so far claimed six X Games medals in his career to date. In 2010 Jossi was crowned the Association of Freeskiing Professionals (AFP) Overall World Champion giving him the status of ‘Best Freeskier in the World’.
Jossi was selected to represent New Zealand at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi where he placed 4th in Halfpipe. He went on to take out hird place in slopestyle at the 2014 AFP World Champs and was named 2014 Snow Sports NZ Freeski Athlete of the Year.
In September 2014 Jossi sustained a broken neck whilst training for an event. Even this wasn't enough to slow him down, Jossi making his comeback just five months later with the X Games 2015. By February 2015 he had earned a fourth place in Big Air at Air+Style event and then in March 2015 he took out first place in slopestyle at the European Open against the world's best.
After a decade as one of the world’s top freeski athletes, Jossi finally ticked off a career goal by winning an X Games gold medal in January 2016. With five X Games medals already to his name, his win in slopestyle at the Aspen event completed the set. The 2016 northern hemisphere season had already started well with Jossi winning a silver medal at the Dew Tour. He capped it off with a bronze medal in slopestyle at the World Cup in Korea in February. The event also served as a test event for the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games. Jossi was once again named Snow Sports NZ Freeskier and Overall Athlete of the Year in 2016.
Jossi tore his patella tendon in a training accident in June 2017. He underwent a thorough rehabilitation programme in New Zealand and was back on snow in late December. Jossi was named to the NZ Olympic Winter Games Team for PyeongChang 2018 but withdrew from the team in January 2018 when it became apparent that his knee was not yet ready for the loading required to compete and meet his high standards at Olympic level.
Born and bred in Wanaka, in the beautiful Southern Alps of New Zealand, Jossi is the oldest of four brothers. Jossi is coached by his father, Bruce, and spends the majority of the year training and competing in the northern hemisphere and based in Breckenridge, Colorado.
When he’s in New Zealand Jossi enjoys skiing at Cardrona Alpine Resort and when he’s not on skis, he can be found skateboarding, riding motorcycles, taking photos and playing music.
Check out more of Jossi's FIS results here and AFP results here, or follow him on social media.
