Alpine Skiing: Results put skier back in NZ Olympic spotlight

Piera Hudson

It couldn't have been easy but Piera Hudson hasn't looked back since missing out on the Sochi Winter Olympics this year.

The proof is in the Hawke's Bay alpine skier's rankings in the past nine months, celebrating not just her birthday but also gnawing away at the points on her three disciplines.

"Making it to Sochi was always going to be a hard goal seeing as I am still so young so I wasn't extremely disappointed in not qualifying. I still had a really successful season by lowering my world rankings a staggering amount and making my Europa Cup debut," Hudson said.

The 18-year-old from Tikokino has represented New Zealand in 50 events in the United States and Europe, finding a perch on the podium seven times and recording personal bests in giant slalom, slalom and super combi.

"I have lowered my FIS [International Ski Federation] points by 108, making this my best world ranking. I am currently ranked 316 in the world with super combi and, in total, I am up against 4000 female ski racers," the teenager said via email from France before she returns to the Bay on Friday.

Hudson made the cut under the International Olympic Committee (IOC) criteria early this year but Snow Sports New Zealand and the New Zealand Olympic Committee changed the alpine selection process a year ago.

The Snow Sports NZ panel did not nominate her because she did not satisfy any of its Olympic criteria. Chief executive Marty Toomey said the change in selection criteria a year ago to the alpine discipline made it easier for athletes to qualify after the New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) imposed stringent measures not long after the 2010 Vancouver Games, to align the winter selection policy with the summer one.

Hudson's three career best results this year included scoring 33.4 FIS points in an international giant slalom race in Flumserberg, Switzerland, advancing from bib No39 to finish 14th in a field of 98 competitors.

In slalom, Hudson scored 37 FIS points at the British National Championship in Meribel, France, and in the same race series she won the British National Junior Championship giant slalom title.

"My slalom has really improved this season. It was always my weakest event and now it's on a par with my other disciplines," she said.

"Ten months ago I was on 59 slalom points and it has now dropped to 39 FIS points," Hudson said, adding the improvement in her slalom rubbed off on her super combi discipline.

Super combined is made up of a super G speed race and a technical slalom race.

"I have lowered my FIS points by 108 FIS, making this my best world ranking."

Hudson competed in the 2014 FIS Alpine Junior World Championship in Jasna, Slovakia, where she achieved another super combi personal best.

She will remain a junior for another three years although she is the country's top-ranked female in super G, giant slalom and super combined disciplines.

Hudson remains steadfast in becoming the top slalom Kiwi female by the end of the Southern Hemisphere winter.

"Right now the big picture in the future is South Korea [Pyeongchang Olympics] in 2018. Not qualifying for Russia just makes me want to work that much harder and push myself over the next four years and I think it's a really realistic goal this time."

The former Woodford House pupil was the only female to compete in the inaugural 2012 Youth Winter Olympics, at Innsbruck, Austria, where she was third in her age group. The two-time (2009, 2011) Central Hawke's Bay Sportsperson of the Year was also selected to compete in the open 2013 World Championship in Schladming, Austria, among 139 alpine competitors from 72 countries.

National women's coach, Jonny Rice, said Piera had the resolve and dedication to overcome any obstacles as the building blocks were in place to enable allow her to achieve excellence for many years.