Wānaka Freeskier made history when he became the first New Zealand to beat Fis Big Air Crystal Globe in France yesterday.
The award is granted to the main athlete of the world tour in recognition of consistent performances.
“This is absolutely unbelievable,” said Harrington.
“Entering this season, I didn’t think this was possible.
“Being here holding this globe means the world for me and I need to thank everyone who helped me on this journey to get here. I am very grateful for this moment.”
The 21 -year -old ended third in the final round of the World Cup in Tignes yesterday morning, placing a triple changer of “Never ended” with a Cork 1800 claw with a grabbing in his first race, which was the top trick of the competition.
Harrington combined this trick with a triple security claw on the right of 1980 for a total score of 187.00 points, which earned him a place on the well -locked podium.
Mac Forehand of the United States ended second, only 0.5 points ahead of Harrington.
Italian Freeskier Miro Tabanelli won the victory with a score of 188.25, just a few minutes after his younger sister won the women’s competition.
Of the five World Cups in which Harrington competed this season, he finished on the podium four times – two wins, a second and a third – and he was out of the podium fourth in his fifth event in Beijing in December.
Beijing was the event that “kept me hungry” this season, he said.
“Being so close that the podium was hard and I wanted to be there, so I worked hard, trained hard and kept the consistency.
“Everything really worked this year and I’m very happy.”
The only other four -podium athlete this season was Austria’s Matej Svancer, but with significant points still granted by the fourth places, Harrington won Crystal Globe’s 39 -points victory over Svancer.
Harrington and teammate Ben Barclay were the two main qualifiers for the Freeski Slopestyle World Cup, scheduled for last night (New Zealand time). Ruby’s star, Andrews, competed in the women’s competition.
New Zealand previously won two FIS Crystal Globes on Snowboard: Tiarn Collins led the 2022 standings and Zoi Sadowski-Synnott was the 2021 Big Air Champion.
Alice Robinson, the star of Alpine Ski Racing leads the giant Slalom World Cup classification with the final event scheduled for March 26. – APL
