James Hamilton's experience in skiing, skateboarding and surfing made him a natural talent for snowboarding. Photo / Brett Phibbs

James Hamilton's experience in skiing, skateboarding and surfing made him a natural talent for snowboarding. Photo / Brett Phibbs

James Hamilton was a late starter in snowboarding.

But he's made up for lost time at such a rate in the space of four years that he was briefly world No1 last year and is New Zealand's leading male contender for a place on the halfpipe at next February's Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

And if he makes it, Hamilton knows it will be "a humbling experience". His father, Doug, is from Vancouver and Hamilton, who has been there only twice, knows he'll have more support than a Kiwi rider might expect that far from home.

Hamilton is one of seven New Zealand snowboarders chasing Olympic selection. Theoretically all could qualify. There are four events coming up which will decide the makeup of the fields.

If the popular, middle-aged view of snowboarders is of conversation limited to "yo dude, wassup?" and a general air of space cadetship, the 20-year-old from Albany defies it all.

He's articulate, quietly spoken, and while he has a measure of confidence in his ability, he also cannot disguise a degree of surprise at how far he's come in such a short time.

His route to snowboarding was typical. He began skiing at two on Cypress Mountain, venue for the snowboarding and freestyle Olympic disciplines next year and about an hour's drive out of Vancouver.

Skiing was more of the annual family holiday variety with parents Doug and Katy, at Mt Ruapehu, than anything remotely serious. In his mid-teens, things changed. Snowboarding took a grip.

"Because I was into skateboarding, surfing, that sort of stuff, it seemed like the coolest thing to do," Hamilton said.

"I tried it one day, loved it, changed from skiing and never looked back."

You'll hear people who have tried the switch talk of the difficulty because of the different placing of body weight and travelling sideways rather than facing down the mountain.

Hamilton found the transition straightforward, the skateboarding and surfing having given him plenty of experience of the feeling and balance required for moving sideways.

Hamilton was spotting his rivals a decent head start when he got serious on the board.

"To be honest, it's all come up pretty quickly for me. I haven't been snowboarding as long as the other guys. When the last Olympics were on [Torino in 2006] that's when I started seriously riding the half pipe so I've had to play catch up."