Nico Porteous claimed New Zealand's second gold medal of the Beijing Winter Olympics. Photo / Getty Images
Nico Porteous has been praised for his mental strength ahead of his freeski halfpipe final at the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, in an event with more challenges than simply the pressure of the moment.
On top of the pressure came the conditions; -25C, strong wind and snow that wasn't allowing
the skiiers to get the speed they would have liked.
Porteous held his nerve in his opening run, going through the halfpipe with a clean display to post a score of 93.00. It was the only one of his three runs he completed, but it was the only one he needed as his first-run score stood as the top total for the rest of the event.
"We had an hour of practise before the competition, and it was just about finding what we could do on the day," Porteous' coach Tommy Pyatt told Newstalk ZB of the event.
"No one in the field was able to ski to their full potential because the conditions were a bit windy and the snow was a bit slow to go as high as they wanted, so we were just finding out what we could do for the day and he managed to go enough for the win."
