With just over a month to go until the FIS Snowboard and Freestyle Junior World Championships kick off in Lake Wanaka, New Zealand, over 200 of the world's best elite junior athletes from the national teams of 16 countries have already signed up with many more predicted.

The FIS Junior World Championships marks the first time the disciplines of snowboarding and freeskiing have been represented together at official world championship level. It is also the first time a FIS World Championship has taken place in New Zealand.

It promises to be a strong field across all disciplines with many of the athletes ranked in the overall top 50 in the world. They include Switzerland's Patrick Burgener (16) who is ranked sixth in the world for snowboard halfpipe and 19-year-old Helene Olafsen of Norway who is ranked number two in the world for Snowboard Cross and twentieth for Big Air. Victoria Marshall (19) of Canada is the top ranked snowbaord slopestyle rider at 11th in the world, followed by team mate Samm Denena (15) at 14th. Both Switzerland and Canada have entered strong teams with six and eight of their members respectively ranked within the top 50 in the world.

Event organiser, Arthur Klap, said holding the Junior World Championships would further consolidate New Zealand's reputation as a premier winter sports destination, following on from last year's successful 100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games.

"Many of these juniors are world-ranked athletes along side athletes twice their age - they are right up there amongst the best in the world and it promises to be a very exciting competition," he said. " "To have athletes of this calibre competing at two of the New Zealand's top snow sports facilities, Cardrona and Snow Park NZ, will reinforce New Zealand's position on the world stage, plus it's an outstanding opportunity for our own young freeskiers and snowboarders to compete at world championship level on their home turf."