Ben Barclay (Auckland, 19) landed in Beijing yesterday in preparation for his debut Winter Olympic Games. Ben explained “It’s really exciting and bit overwhelming but in a good way for sure”.
[embed url="https://youtu.be/KUHMCs5Gp9A" thumbnail="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/KUHMCs5Gp9A/hqdefault.jpg" class="leftAlone ss-htmleditorfield-file embed" width="200" height="113"]https://youtu.be/KUHMCs5Gp9A[/embed]We asked Ben how it felt to wear the silver fern on his chest, and he answered, “Incredible, it was a long time coming for sure, it means a lot to be in the New Zealand uniform and representing New Zealand.”
Ben will be representing New Zealand in two events, Freeski Big Air and Freeski Slopestyle.
Beijing 2022 is the first time that Freeski Big Air has been included as an Olympic discipline, taking place on the 7th of February.
When asked about expectations and goals for Beijing 2022 Ben explained, “I want to ski the best that I can and let everything else run its course.”
Ben will be competing alongside teammate Finn Bilous in the men’s freeski Big Air and Margaux Hackett will be holding down the fort for the women, with her qualification event due to be held earlier in the day