Kiwi defies rankings to win

Kiwi underdog Blake Marshall surprised his opponents, jumping from his 856th world ranking to the top of the podium at the Winter Games men’s ski Freeride World Tour qualifier yesterday.

Marshall’s win at The Remarkables was against several international greats. The Queenstown local gained valuable points towards qualifying for the Freeride World Tour, the pinnacle of the sport.

He won with a switch one into a double cliff drop, followed by a left 360 directly into a right 360 and a big ol’ Cossack.

He then effortlessly aired the classic waterfall double cliff drop and another monster air before the finish line.

‘‘I felt really good, I knew where I was going and I felt confident.’’

The Kiwis was unstoppable in the men’s ski with Canterbury’s Craig Murray, second, and Julian James Hampton joining Marshall on the podium.

Jessica Hotter of Ohakune won the Ski Women event, skiing the classic elevator line. Emilie Terane of France was second and Sofie Gidlund of Sweden third.

Spaniard Nuria Castan Baron backed up her win in the frontier event to take out the snowboard title. Joining her on the podium were Randa Shahin of the USA in second, and Claudia Bings of Germany.

Cody Bramwell of Sweden, one of FWQ’s top dogs, won the snowboard 4 event. Patrick Van Horn from USA was second while Kiwi Roland Morley Brown was third.