Aussie team returning from successful P&P Junior World Champs

Images courtesy of Winter Games NZ

The Australian team is returning home from the Park & Pipe Junior World Championships in Cardrona with one medal, six top 10 performances and a wealth of invaluable international experience.

While the halfpipe events were cancelled earlier in August, conditions couldn’t stop the best young freeskiers and snowboarders from showing their best form in the slopestyle and big air disciplines.

Leading the way for Australia were two of our female young guns in Ally Hickman and Daisy Thomas.

Hickman entered the snowboard slopestyle as the youngest competitor at just 13 years of age, but finished third in her heat to qualify for the final. Halle McRae and Jess McGregor were unlucky to not qualify for the final, finishing 7th and 8th respectively in Hickman’s heat.

Sitting in 10th after the first run, Hickman laid down the second highest score on the second run which was good enough for the bronze medal.

A fifth place finish in big air qualifying saw Hickman qualify for her second final of the week where she finished ninth.

World Rookie Tour winner Daisy Thomas leaves New Zealand with her head held high, bagging a pair of seventh place finishes in freeski slopestyle and big air finals.

On the final day of competition there was an Australian representative in every big air final. In addition to Hickman and Thomas, Joey Elliss (pictured) was 8th in the men’s freeski and Josh Robertson-Hahn 9th in men’s snowboard.

Snow Australia Performance Health & Talent Manager Ben Bond said the standard of competition at the Junior World Championships was incredibly high.

“Gaining exposure to this level of competition is so integral to our Emerging Talent understanding, where they sit against their peers across the world, hopefully fuelling their motivation to push further in their sport," he said.

"Being so close to home, we jumped at the opportunity to fill our quota for this event.

“Naturally there were highs and lows over the two weeks, with some athletes learning from the realities of being in a judged sport, and others well exceeding their expectations coming in the JWC, which was great to see.

“The eight coaches did a great job managing the athletes over a lengthy campaign. To come away with finals appearances in six out of eight events, along with a podium to Ally Hickman was a fantastic overall result.

“The Australian vibe was high during the whole campaign. We were lucky to have a large contingent of parents here for the events providing a plethora of support for the team.

“Several athletes will stay in in New Zealand for further training, with some to return in coming weeks. Others will head back home for some dryland training before shifting their focus to the Northern Winter.

“A massive thankyou must go to Snowsports NZ, the Winter Games and FIS for hosting such a world class event. We will certainly be back.” 

2023 FIS Park & Pipe Junior World Championships
27 August-3 September | Cardrona NZL

Freeski Slopestyle
Male: Joey Elliss 29th, Kelan Towns 43rd, Toby McIlwaine 45th, Aidan Laing 48th, Jamie Ashcroft 53rd
Female: Daisy Thomas 7th, Elise Tate 19th, Sian Townsend 23rd

Freeski Big Air
Male: Joey Elliss 8th, Jamie Ashcroft 37th, Kelan Towns, 41st, Toby McIlwaine 45th, Aidan Laing 52nd
Female: Daisy Thomas 7th, Sian Townsend 17th, Elise Tate 18th

Snowboard Slopestyle
Male: Milo Botterill 22nd, Joshua Robertson-Hahn 27th, Brock Ibbotson 47th, Zephyr Whitelaw-Holmes 50th, Taj Curran 60th
Female: Ally Hickman 3rd, Halle McRae 13th, Jess McGregor 14th, Chelsee Kelley 21st, Freya Hammerlein 27th, Bella Caddy-Gammell 28th

Snowboard Big Air
Male: Joshua Robertson-Hahn 9th, Milo Botterill 40th, Zephyr Whitelaw-Holmes 45th, Jesse Parkinson 49th, Taj Curran 53rd, Brock Ibbotson 8.33
Female: Ally Hickman 9th, Jess McGregor 22nd, Freya Hammerlein 23rd, Bella Caddy-Gammell 24th, Chelsee Kelley 27th, Halle McRae 28th

FIS Park & Pipe Junior World Championships - Australian Medals
Davina Williams, 2nd Women’s Ski Halfpipe, 2003 Marble Mountain CAN
Davey Bowe, 2nd Men’s Ski Halfpipe, 2003 Marble Mountain CAN
Nathan Johnstone, 2nd Men’s Snowboard Halfpipe, 2010 Cardrona NZL
Emily Arthur, 3rd Women’s Snowboard Halfpipe, 2014 Chiesa in Valmalenco ITA
Tess Coady, 1st Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle, 2017 Spindleruv Mlyn CZE
Tess Coady, 1st Women’s Snowboard Big Air, 2017 Spindleruv Mlyn CZE
Ally Hickman, 3rd Women’s Slopestyle, 2023 Cardrona NZL