Alec Jackson (Tutukaka, 20) has retained his NZ National Slalom title and Isabel Watterson (Wānaka, 16) has claimed her career first FIS level national title today at the New Zealand Slalom Alpine National Championships held at Coronet Peak.
Today’s National Championships marked the first FIS race of the season at Coronet Peak, New Zealand’s home of alpine ski racing. The Slalom was held on Pro Am, a slope with multiple fall lines that makes for exciting racing. Heavy snow was falling throughout the first run, adding to the challenge for the athletes.
After the first run, Charlotte Wiggins (Auckland, 18) was the fastest Kiwi woman, but with Ruby Fullerton (Nelson, 19) just +0.13 seconds behind her and Isabel Watterson (Wānaka, 16) sitting in third it was going to be a tightly fought second run for the championship trophy.
In the men’s field Jesse Mutton (Rotorua, 19) had the lead run one, with 2024 NZ Slalom National Champion Alec Jackson just +0.33 second behind him.
The storm clouds parted and sunny skies greeted the athletes for run two. Watterson put down a blistering second run to take the lead and claim the first national title of her career as the 2025 NZ Slalom National Champion for the women. Wiggins finished in second place +0.92 behind Watterson with Zoe Parr (New Plymouth, 18) rounding out the podium in third.
Watterson was really happy with her result today, saying how it makes for a great start to her 2025/26 FIS season. Going into her second run, she explained “I just went for it and tried to ski my best, the level of the Kiwi women is really high at the moment so it’s great to take the win.”
In the men’s race Jackson took the win by over a second, with a lightning fast second run that put him well into the lead for the Kiwi men taking the win by over one second. Mutton finished up in second place with Calder Bain (Wānaka, 22) rounding out the NZ men’s podium in third.
Jackson said; “I really wanted to win the title again, in the first run I was holding back a little as I thought if I finished then I could probably win again but the other guys pushed me hard and I had to put one down on my second run. I am pretty stoked to have hung onto it! [the national title].”
With today’s race doubling as both an international FIS race and the New Zealand National Championships race, the start lists were stacked with almost 90 athletes from 22 nations representing. This meant the New Zealand athletes racing also had a valuable opportunity to score good points ahead of the upcoming Northern Hemisphere season.
The FIS race overall podiums today were an international affair. In the women’s race Romy Ertl of Germany took the win, with Victoria Palla of Great Britain in second and Sophia Waldauf of Austria in third. In the men’s race Eirik Hystad of Norway took the win, USA’s Jevin Palmquist in second and Yohei Koyama of Japan rounded out the podium in third.
The action continues tomorrow, with the Giant Slalom National Championships race set to go down on the formidable Hurdle slope.
4 days ago