Erstellt am: 28. 2. 2010 - 16:52 Uhr

The Flying Kiwi

At the Austrian Freeski Open in Kaprun, Jossi Wells shows that there is more to New Zealand sport than rugby.

19-year old Jossi Wells from Wanaka in New Zealand, who has just jumped to victory at the Austrian Freeski Open on the Kitzsteinhorn glacier, is a breath of fresh air for free-skiing.

In a sport that boasts individuality but often displays a tightly uniform voluntary dress and even language code, Wells is refreshingly his own man.

The Atomic rider turned up at the pre-competition briefing at a community hall in Kaprun dressed in oversize Buddy Holly glasses, a skin tight, high-coloured black rain jacket, and black leather boots. A quiff of hair pertruded out of his commando-style hat. He cut an elegant and surprising figure in a room of beanies and hoodies.

Wells laughed when I asked him about his eclectic style, “We’re basically glorified show-offs. Why not stand out?”

bause

Jossi Wells. photo: BAUSE

And on the mountain he certainly showed he had the substance to back up the style. The judges said they were looking for fluidity, air and innovation – and it was the southern hemisphere that seemingly had the most to offer in those departments. On a Mellow Park course of rails and a large kicker, shortened because of the sluggish snow and wind, Wells matched his friend and pre-competition favourite Russ Henshaw from Australia degree for degree and metre for metre. Both pulled off double cork 1260s - basically a three and half rotation spin with two flips in it – but the judges gave the victory to the Kiwi, who absolutely nailed the landing. “When you land a perfect run its an unbelievable feeling,” he said, “the best feeling in the world.”

bause

Jossi Wells in action. photo BAUSE

Henshaw, from team Völkl, who won the title at the Playstreets at Bad Gastein and the New School Picknick in Schladming last year, deserves a lot of credit though. He had arrived late in the previous night after hopping on a train straight from the slopes of France where he was filming a commercial shoot. In the end he had travelled 14 hours just to take part. Like many of the riders he was pulling off slightly more conservative tricks than usual on account of the stormy winds that were sweeping over the glacier. “It’s pretty sketchy on the jumps,“ he told me, which I think is freeski speak for bloody terrifying. High winds and ten metre high air makes for a tempestuous marriage.

One of Henshaw’s friends and compatriots was in the crowd dressed as a banana, handing out free drinks and snacks. The man known as Banana Palmer has been following the European freeski circus since the European Open in Laax three years ago, funding his mini party out of his pocket and trying to warm up the atmosphere. He said the idea of the Banana Bar was to keep the community spirit of freeskiing alive and to give the skier who don’t qualify for the final and place to hang out and get to know each other. I pointed out his was a somewhat expensive hobby, he pointed out the smiles he had brought to the crowd surrounding him. "It proves you can buy happiness. You just can't sell it!"

chris cummins

"you can buy happiness. You just can't sell it!"

There is a tight community feeling in the free ski world and its actually been a sad week for the young sport. Freeskiing pioneer C. R. Johnson died last week in an accident on the slopes of California aged only 26. Before the champagne was corked at the awards ceremony there was a moment of reflection to remember and honour Johnson. But perhaps the Californian's best memorial was the action on the kickers. Johnson was a freeskiing icon who helped shape the sport as we now know it. He was the first athlete first to pull off several spectacular stunts including a bio 1260 — a spin of three and a half rotations while grabbing his skis. As freeskiing grows, his legacy lives on in the kids he inspired.

schoerch

Action on the Kitzsteinhorn glacier. Photo by Christoph Schörch

Back down in the valley, the riders gathered in the 12th century Kaprun castle for an FM4 after party. The keep, glowing red and green from the coloured floodlights, offered sweeping night time views over the snowy peaks of the Salzach valley. Inside it was full and sweaty and chokingly smoky and I found tee-totaller Jossi now doing back-flips on the dance floor in a sleeveless red-neck muscle shirt, driven on by nothing much stronger than orange juice.

He was enjoying the unique setting. “I can’t believe we’re in a castle,” he said. “I just walked over a moat. I’ve only read about those in books, you know: full of crocodiles to keep the bad guys out! I’ve definitely crossed off a life goal."

So is the teenager going to show the wold there's more to New Zealand sport than sweaty rugby players? Wells smiles, "Oh yeah!"