Kiwi high flier gets ready for Olympics
They call them the alpine kids, those lucky enough to be brought up in snow sport meccas Queenstown and Wanaka.
Nico Porteous was four when he first started skiing.
Eleven years later the halfpipe freeskier is set to become New Zealand’s youngest Winter Olympian.
Porteous, 15, realised one of his dreams this week when he was selected for the New Zealand Winter Olympic team to compete next February in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
He will be 16 years and 78 days when the games begin.
Born in Christchurch, the Porteous family moved to Wanaka when he was still crawling. It was inevitable his feet would land on skis or a snowboard.
Turns out Porteous and his brother – fellow Winter Olympian Miguel Porteous, 18 – are both pretty handy on skis.
Miguel and Nico impressed earlier this year at the Winter Games NZ as they finished fifth in the halfpipe at Cardrona in August. The younger brother landed his first left double cork 1440 ever in competition at the event, which was part of the FIS World Cup.
When he learned this week that he would be an Olympian, Nico admitted he was a little bit surprised, but he would have been disappointed had he missed skiing in South Korea with his best mate and big brother.
‘‘It did come as a bit of a surprise, but I also knew it was something that could happen.’’
His aim is to make the top 10 in Pyeongchang and after that ‘‘anything can happen’’.
While being the youngest ever New Zealander to compete at the Games is a thrill, he’s not dwelling on that fact and believes age is irrelevant in his sport.
‘‘It is a cool feeling, but I don’t see age as any sort of disadvantage. I [will] just be myself out there and hope the results come.
‘‘I’m not really intimidated. I mean, of course you are because they [competitors] are so good, but I don’t see age as something to fear.
‘‘Experience is valuable of course, but age no. Anyone can win at any age, but it just depends on how strong you are, how mentally strong you are.’’
Both brothers will leave for Austria next week for a training camp and then Colorado for the first World Cup of the northern hemisphere cycle. They will sit their NCEA school exams from the US.
The Porteous brothers aren’t the only alpine kids selected.
Wanaka’s Finn Bilous, 18, will compete at the freeski slopestyle, Zoi Sadowski Synnott,16, also of Wanaka, has been selected for the women’s snowboard slopestyle, and Queenstown’s Tiarn Collins, 17, will take on the snowboard slopestyle and snowboard big air.