Jossi Wells confirmed his status as New Zealand winter sport's glamour boy with the country's first Winter Games medal on Saturday. Wanaka's Wells scorched to a silver medal in the freeski slopestyle as the Games opened at the Remarkables under clear skies.
Tipped to be one of New Zealand's leading contenders for a medal, Wells (19) gave the home nation an exciting start to the 10-day competition with an electrifying first run in the slopestyle. Wells scored 82.40 and was pipped for gold by a narrow margin by leading American Thomas Wallisch, who posted 82.80.
Another American skier, Bobby Brown, was third with 80.60. Head judge Phil Larose said the scores reflected the tightness of the competition.
"It was a really tough call between Wells and Wallisch and the final decision came down to just the slightest mistake," Larose said.
Wells, who warmed up for the Games by winning the New Zealand Freeski Open, was excited to get a rare chance to impress in his home region.
"It is cool to have a competition at home and be able to bring all my mates down and do a competition in my backyard," Wells said.
It was not all sweet and rosy for Wells.
He banged his right knee during his second run on Saturday and might not be 100% fit for the freeski halfpipe competition this week.
"I tried to get a double flip in there, seeing as how no-one had done one all day," Wells told the Sunday Star-Times.
"I thought I'd try and put it in the mix, but the jumps were just a little bit small for that kind of trick and I had to take the jump really big to get it around and just landed pretty hard and my knee gave way.
"I've had dodgy knees for about four years now. My patella tendon has seized up and I can't really bend my knee right now, but some ice and some TLC and it should be good to go."
Australia's Anna Segal claimed the women's title with a score of 86.80.
"I was pretty stoked with how it all went today. It's not as big as we are used to hitting, but this allowed us to get more creative," Segal said, referring to the Remarkables course.
Canada's Rosalind Groenewoud (77.60) was second and compatriot Dania Assaly (76.00) was third.
Larose enjoyed the originality of the Remarkables course.
"It was fun to see different stuff rather than just the usual jumps and rails," Larose said.
"The barrel bonk jump was really original, and while the riders weren't used to it they found a way to do tricks on it."