Final Update

The U21s in France are now all wrapped up, with an awesome performance from team Kiwi placing 7th in the Overall teams classification. By the looks of things conditions on the last day were a little up and down which made it a little tougher to deal with. We had Stacey (slalom), Renee (Jump) and Aaron (Jump) all in finals, which is a fantastic effort from this up and coming team. The table has been updated with all the scores from the team in both the prelim and final rounds - to see the scores for all the finals see the link below to the IWWF website. Well done kiwis!

Update Three

Some exciting skiing overnight, with both the girls jumping and Jarrod tricking. The biggest news of the day was Renee's massive jump of 43.6m - a huge PB and pending U21 New Zealand record!!!!She slots herself into the finals nicely. Unfortunately, Jarrod missed out on the trick final by one sport with 5680 but still a solid score, and Stacey had a 35.9m in jump. The table below has been updated with everyone's scores, keep watching! Only Aaron and Jarrod's prelim round jump scores to come.

Update Three

Scores to date for team Kiwi:

				FINALS
Stacey	1.5@11.25m	2280	35.9m	3.5@12m
Jarrod	0.5@12m	5680	42.3m
Aaron	4@12m	4770	55.8m	53.4m
Renee	1@12m	3880	43.6m	41.1m

The team has been skiing absolutely out of their skin. Slalom scores from all four members have been just awesome - Stacey in Second place, Jarrod and Renee both running their 13m money pass and into 12, and Aaron getting right up into PB territory with 4@12m. (Remember that this is both Jarrod and Aarons first ever Worlds tournament!)

Keep sending your good luck messages to the team manager: linda@thelake.co.nz. Go team Kiwi!

Links to follow:

Page of Results and schedule of events
NZTWSA Facebook page

 

Update One

The U21 Team of Renee Hannah, Stacey Gilbert, Jarrod Wade and Aaron Baldwin has now assembled in Meuzac, France, having travelled from various parts of the world!! Renee returned to Florida after Open Worlds and was joined by Aaron 3 weeks ago. They have both had some great training at Kyle Eade's school and feel well prepared.

Stacey has been in France since mid July training at beautiful Lacanau, initially with Aaron Larkin and Anais Amade. She loves France and now wants to live here! And Jarrod is the hero of the team having done all his training in the New Zealand winter!!

We have familiarisation tomorrow evening, followed by 2 days rest, the competition starting on Thursday September 1st. Good luck messages can be emailed to me at linda@thelake.co.nz or posted on facebook - we have good internet at the ski site.

Meuzac is a typical French rural town in the middle of not much but the site is awesome. Limoges, the home of porcelain, is nearby. We are staying 20mins from the site in a camp ground beside a small lake - fantastic accommodation with a beautiful outlook.

Update Two

Our familiarisation here in France is complete and we now have one more day to relax, rest and prepare for the competition. Luckily we our accommodation is at a beautiful campground which is the perfect place to relax, with a small lake and beach, a pool, mini golf course, volleyball court and plenty more. I am here in Meuzac with four very dedicated and hard working athletes and I feel very honoured and lucky to be here in such an incredible place. All four skiers have trained hard on the water, in the gym, with their diet and general lifestyle, committing 100% to their skiing. They are all skiing well and mostly pretty happy with how familiarisation went - the site is magnificent. The days have been sunny and at the moment a perfect temperature for skiing at about 24degrees - some what better than the 38 it was here a couple of weeks ago.

Day one is now finished and we are well into Day Two here in Dubna! Cole, Renee, Megan, Lance and James have all slalomed, and both of the girls have tricked (we wait for their scores at the moment - keep an eye out on the TWSA Facebook page for the latest team results). The biggest news to come out of the camp at this stage is that coming into Day 3 both Megan and Lance are leading slalom - this means we have two kiwis leading the World Championships at the moment! Check out the home page for the third update which will have the full details on scores and other progress at the tournament along with useful links for live scores. In the meantime, enjoy some of the photos below!

A very impressive opening ceremony Cole at 16m Renee looking strong in touch conditions Pretty happy with 3.5@13m! Megan on her way to 4.5@12m Jimmy at 13m Lance at 11.25m Massive 1 at 10.75m - looking for a piece of 3! Megan with two solid passes, falls on her 4th flip	Yes, the stage is sitting on top of the slalom course! Final score for Cole 2@12m 14m Megan on her opener Go Kiwis! Final score for James 3.5@12m Huge 2 ball!!

 

Familiarisation for the Worlds team in Russia has now finished, and competition begins tomorrow (Monday). The time difference is 8 hours, so at 12 midday in Russia it is 8pm in New Zealand on the same day. Have a look at some of the photos below, and check out the second update here. More photos and updates to come as the competition progresses, stay tuned!

Half of the team sitting with Gary Humphrey of Australia	Renee gets two swimmers to take her skis!