Podium position the goal for Bilous
GETTY IMAGES EVER since he was six years old Kiwi slopestyle skier Finn Bilous has been waiting for the moment he could wear the silver fern at a Winter Olympic Games.
The 18-year-old Wanaka local has grown up on the slopes and next Sunday he will compete in the slopestyle ski event in the hope of winning just New Zealand’s second medal at a Winter Olympics.
He only finished secondary school in November, but has taken this year to focus solely on skiing and he thinks it will pay off for him and the country.
‘‘In my mind, if I’m able to land the competition runs I’ve got planned, I should hopefully make the finals and will then look at giving it my best shot to gain New Zealand’s second ever Winter Olympic medal,’’ Bilous said.
He, along with 20 other Kiwi athletes, is very serious about securing medals and they have as good as chance as those traditional snow sports nations in Europe and North America.
Bilous won New Zealand’s first ever Winter Youth Olympic Games medal in 2016 with a silver in the halfpipe and then backed this up with bronze in the slopestyle, and last year qualified for his first senior Winter Olympics
‘‘I’ve been slowly building up to the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics for the past couple years.
‘‘However, in these last couple of months leading into the Games, I’ve really been focusing on training the tricks that I want to land in my Olympic competition runs.
‘‘I’ve also just been trying to ski as much as I can in order to feel super comfortable on my skis come February.
‘‘Since I was about six years old I was obsessed with the idea of becoming a professional skier. I’ve always really loved skiing and when I saw the lifestyle that all the pros were living, it just looked so fun and it really appealed to me so, I decided I was going to try everything I could in order to make it to their level.’’
With slopestyle being down to the individual judges on the day, Bilous knows there is an element of luck in him gaining a podium finish, but he believes he has done the preparation right to do the job.
He isn’t daunted by the gravity of the Winter Olympics as he has competed against world-class skiers on the world circuit.