Government to inject $500,000 into Snow Sports facilities

Kiwi Freestyle Skier Jossi Wells in action at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics. Photosport

A $500,000 upgrade of the high performance snow training facilities near Wanaka will cement the town's place as the capital for high performance winter sport in New Zealand, Snow Sports New Zealand's chief executive says.

The organisation will use a Government grant for $500,000 to enhance high performance training facilities for snowboarders and skiers at Cardrona Alpine Resort.

The money will go towards upgrading the dryland training facility and buying two customised airbags designed to significantly reduce the injury risk.

Snow Sports New Zealand chief executive Marty Toomey said the two new airbags would arrive by October and would cement Wanaka's and Cardrona's position as the capital of elite snow sport, particularly style events, in New Zealand.

Athletes would now be able to land their tricks before they tried them on the snow, which significantly reduced their risk of injury but also allowed them to try more technical and bigger tricks, Mr Toomey said.

''Unlike the older airbags these ones are contoured which allow the athletes to slide out like they have completed the trick on snow but also stop them from hurting themselves if they don't make them.''

The upgrades would complement the training facilities already at Cardrona and at the Snow Sports New Zealand base in Wanaka.

"With world cup quality facilities already, Cardrona was a natural fit for the equipment," Mr Toomey said.

Instead of heading overseas straight to train after the southern hemisphere snow season ended athletes could now spend longer in New Zealand training reducing the risk of injury and cost of training.

''It means they don't have to go over to Europe looking for a glacier somewhere with snow before the northern season starts and allows them to work alongside our other elite athletes.''

There were only a few months left until the Winter Olympics started in South Korea and the funding would go a long way to help New Zealand athletes competing.

''Obviously a lot of our athletes are focused on PyeongChang and qualifying for the games and this is going to help out tremendously.''

Sport and Recreation Minister Jonathan Coleman will today announce the funding, which comes on top of an extra $20,000 given to SSNZ earlier this year so it could host a Continental Cup competition before the Winter Games, which start today.