Tauranga Boys College student Luke McConnell has big dreams for a freeride skiing career. Photo / Chris Chase Photography
Tauranga Boys College student Luke McConnell has big dreams for a freeride skiing career. Photo / Chris Chase Photography
Mount Maunganui might be more known for surfing and beach volleyball, but one local is making his mark on the ski slopes.
Tauranga Boys College student and competitive freeride skier Luke McConnell is getting ready to go to Austria to compete for the second time.
Freeride skiing, formally named bigmountain skiing, is judged by how smooth, stylish, and controlled a contestant can ski down the mountain.
There are no practice runs and no second chances, which means any mistakes are extremely costly.
Last year McConnell, 18, was selected to represent New Zealand in the Freeride Junior World Championships in Austria. Although he crashed out of the competition, the selection was a big step forward for him in his skiing career, he said.
McConnell will put his ski boots on again on January 27 when he flies to Austria for his second-ever open men’s event, hoping to improve his run from the Junior World Champs, held at the same venue last year.
McConnell first found his love for the slopes when he was 2 years old and said the Whakapapa ski field on Mount Ruapehu was his favourite ski spot growing up.
He has been competing since he was 10 and recalled his first competition kickstarted his passion for the sport.
“I grew up skiing and it was a sport that I really enjoyed,” he said. “After my first competition at Ruapehu, I decided I wanted to keep pursuing it.”
He said although Mount Maunganui wasn’t the most convenient place for his sport, he and his family would make it work.
Tauranga Boys College student Luke McConnell has big dreams for a freeride skiing career. Photo / Chris Chase Photography
“Sometimes we would go on a day trip which was a bit of a mission, otherwise we’d go down for a weekend.”
He also mentioned that a big part of his desire to keep competing was the feeling of landing an intense run in a competition on a face that he had never skied before.
McConnell’s first competition in 2023, and his first open men’s competition, started on January 11 in Switzerland. He finished fifth out of 43 skiers, but thought that he could have done better.
“My run went mostly as planned, although I had a couple of small control issues that kept me off the podium.”
He has won big events before. Most recently he beat 18 others at the U18 2022 Verbier Freeride Week Juniors in Switzerland in an event he considers a personal highlight.
His end goal is to be a top-five rider on the Freeride World Tour, the most prestigious freeriding competition in the world. To qualify he’ll have to prove himself as one of the top four skiers in Europe, Asia, and Oceania.
- Louis Johnston is a 15-year-old Mount Maunganui College student with a passion for sports and journalism. If you have a community sports story idea, please contact: news@bayofplentytimes.co.nz
