Porteous welcomes fear factor when flipping out on slopes
New Zealand freeskier Nico Porteous remembers the fear of huddling under a table when the first devastating earthquake struck Christchurch at 4.35am on September 4, 2010.
He was eight, living with his family in Methven near Mt Hutt in Canterbury when experiencing one of the scariest moments of his life.
GoPro athlete Porteous said he had very vivid images from that morning, but recalls ‘‘just holding on’’ during the 7.1 magnitude earthquake that lasted for what ‘‘felt like forever’’.
‘‘We were luckily in a safe wooden house and it just rolled with the earthquake. It was really scary.’’
Fear, albeit on a much lesser scale, has become part of the teenager’s life. Porteous now lives hoping to be ‘‘scared every day in some sort of way’’ and he recently became the youngest ever athlete to land the Triple Cork 1440 trick.
‘‘It involves doing three backflips and four full spins in one jump,’’ he said. ‘‘It was quite complicated when I achieved it but it’s become a stock standard trick now.’’
He turned 16 in November and is set to become New Zealand’s youngest ever Winter Olympian next February in South Korea.
A torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee means Porteous is battling to be fit for the Winter Olympics, but he doesn’t sound the least bit worried and expects to be back on snow three weeks before the opening ceremony on February 9.
His other nasty injury was a broken pelvis suffered during an already bright career that has taken him and elder 18-year-old brother, Miguel, to freeskiing events around the world.
Nico and Miguel in October were among nine names announced for the New Zealand Winter Olympics team in Wanaka.
The younger Porteous brother, then 15, inevitably grabbed the headlines because of his age, but he says it’s not too much of a factor in freeski halfpipe competitions.
His mum, Chris, and dad, Andrew, will be in Pyeongchang where Porteous is targeting a top10 finish and a finals spot.
‘‘Once you’re in the final anything can happen. It hasn’t really sunk in yet because I’ve been so busy since I was selected and I’ve not had the time to think about it. But it will all become real at the opening ceremony and a very cool feeling in the stadium with my brother by my side.’’
Porteous confesses to being an adrenaline junkie who wasn’t sure what life was like off the snow until his recent knee injury that happened because of a ‘‘bit of a spill’’ when warming up for training ahead of a World Cup final event.
He has discovered he needs other interests and ‘‘skateboarding or surfing’’ are hobbies during the summer to satisfy that need for thrills and spills.
Scoring contracts with brands like GoPro and Red Bull, both huge players among snow and extreme sports circuits, ought to help.
Porteous started skiing when he was four. He was born in Hamilton but moved to Christchurch at a young age. His brother started skiing at two.
His family moved to Australia after the Christchurch earthquakes in 2010 and 2011 but settled in Wanaka three years ago.